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C0EXRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




MARTIN LUTHER (by Cranach, 1529) 



LUTHER PRIMER 



A Little Book of Goodly Excerpts 

from the Writings of 

Martin Luther 



by 
Albert T. W. Steinhaeuser 



Columbia, S. C. 

Survey Publishing Company 

1917 






MAY 18 1918 

CI.A499241 



Oo 



Copyright, 1917 
by 

Lutheran Survey Publishing Company 



BEATO PATRI 
MATRIQUE BEANTI 



Preface 

This little book was originally undertaken at the re- 
quest of the Luther League of the Allentown (Pa.) District 
and planned as a study-book for its members during the qua- 
ter-centenary of the Protestant Reformation. It insisted, how- 
ever, on growing under the hands of the compiler to greater 
proportions than at first intended, and seemed to clamor 
to be permitted to seek a wider circle of readers. 

It is herewith presented to the general public as a little 
contribution to the literature of the jubilee year, during 
which, amid the din of voices telling about Luther and 
his work, it would modestly crave a hearing for the man 
himself. It would rejoice greatly if it found itself handled 
and used in study-classes of whatever sort, or felt itself 
slipped into the pocket of this or that gentle reader, to be 
taken out and dipped into during moments of leisure, at 
home or on the train. or out in the open. And it would like 
certain of its pages to be liked by the children. 

It feels very small and unworthy — "a slight thing if 
thou regard its bulk" — and is sadly aware that it has 
caught up but a few crumbs from a great man's table ; but 
what it has is the authentic Luther and presents him per- 
haps from every important angle. 

The compiler gratefully acknowledges many a valuable 
suggestion received from a little German fore-runner — Dr. 
W. Schrank's Lutherbuch (Leipzig: 1913). Fully one-half 
of the translations are his own, and the remainder he has 
altered in many places, perhaps not always with happy re- 
sult. His purpose was to give as free a rendering as pos- 
sible without doing unnecessary violence to the original. 



Contents 

Two Modest Prefaces i 

A Letter to a Monk 5 

The XCV Theses 8 

The Lord's Prayer said Forwards and Backwards .... 13 

Open Letter to the Christian Nobility 17 

The Three Walls of the Romanists 18 

Abuses to be discussed in Councils 25 

Proposals for Reform 27 

The Babylonian Captivity of the Church 31 

The Bread 33 

Baptism 35 

The Liberty of a Christian Man 39 

The Burning of the Papal Bull 51 

Luther at Worms 54 

Letter to Spalatin 54 

The Answer "without horns and teeth" 55 

Letter to Lucas Cranach 56 

Prologue to the German New Testament 59 

Prologue to the Psalter 66 

On the Art of Translating 69 

A Princely Letter to a Prince 74 

A Week of Wonderful Sermons 78 

Of the Word of God as against Human Force ... 78 

Of Images 80 

Of the Sacrament 81 

The Powers that Be 83 

Secular Government is Divine 83 



MI 



Contents 

The Extent of Secular Government 84 

The Christian Ruler 86 

The Right of a Congregation to Call its Own Pastor ... 87 

The New Order of Service 90 

The First Protestant Hymn Book 96 

A Children's Hymn for Christmastide 98 

Christian Schools for Boys and Girls 103 

Invitation to a Wedding Feast in 

Preface to the Small Catechism 114 

A Loving Son to His Sick Father 118 

A Sheaf of Letters from "The Wilderness" 122 

To His Companions at Table in Wittenberg .... 122 

To Little Hans 124 

To Philip Melanchthon 127 

To Lazarus Spengler 129 

Aesop's Fables 132 

The Complaint of the Birds 136 

The Latest News from the Rhine 139 

Last Letters to Frau Kathe 142 

The Last Words of All 148 

The Last Spoken Words 148 

The Last Written Words 149 

Appendices . . 151 

I. Chronological Survey 151 

II. Reading and Reference List 155 

Index 163 



VIII 



I 

Two Modest Prefaces 

[As we may well imagine, there was a great demand on 
the part of publishers and readers for a complete edition 
of Luther's works, which finally amounted in all to over 
400. For a long time he was unwilling to give way to 
this demand, but finally submitted as gracefully as pos- 
sible, and prepared two very modest prefaces — one for 
the collected German Works, which began to appear in 
1539, and one for the Latin Works, the first volume of 
which came out in 1545. Extracts from these two prefaces 
follow, here.] 



( I ) I should have been glad to see all my books 
forgotten and destroyed. For I perceive what bene- 
fit it has brought to the churches that men have begun 
to collect many books and great libraries alongside 
the Holy Scriptures, and to bring together, helter- 
skelter, all sorts of "Fathers,'' "Councils" and "Doc- 
tors. " Not only has good time been wasted and the 
study of the Scriptures neglected, but the pure under- 
standing of the Word of God has been lost, until the 
Bible has come at last to lie forgotten under the bench. 

It was our intention and hope, when we set out to 
put the Bible into German [see chapters x-xii], that 
there should now be less writing, and more studying 
and reading of the Scriptures. For all other 
writings should point to the Scriptures, as John 
Baptist pointed to Christ and said, "He must in- 
crease, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). Thus 



LUTHER PRIMER 



every one may drink for himself at the fresh spring, 
as all the Fathers have had to do whenever they de- 
sired to produce anything worth while. 

Since, however, I cannot prevent it and men are 
now bent on collecting and printing my books, much 
against my will, I shall have to let them put their 
energy and labor on the venture. I comfort myself 
with the thought that my books will yet lie for- 
gotten in the dust, especially when by God's grace I 
have written anything good. "I am not better than 
my fathers" (i Kings 19:4). 

Well then, let it go in God's name. I only ask in 
all kindness that whoever desires at this time to have 
my books will by no means let them become a hindrance 
to his own study of the Scriptures, but read them as 
I read the decretals of the pope and the books of the 
sophists. t I look into them now and then to see what 
they have done, or to learn the history and thought of 
the time, but I do not study them nor feel myself 
bound to follow them. In the same way I treat the 
Fathers and the Councils. In this I follow the ex- 
ample of St. Augustineij: who is one of the first, and 
almost the only one of them, to subject himself to the 
Holy Scriptures, uninfluenced by any Fathers or 
Saints. [1539] 

(2) Above all things I beseech the Christian reader, 
and beg him for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

fBy sophists he means the theologians. 
:j:The greatest of the Church Fathers; bishop of Hippo, 
in Africa; died 430. 



TWO MODEST PREFACES 3 

to read my earlier writings with great caution and 
with much pity, remembering that I too was once a 
monk, and one of the right raving and frantic papists. 
When I took up the cudgels against indulgences [see 
chap, iii], I was so full and drunken, yea so besotted, 
with papal doctrine that in my great zeal I would 
have been ready to do murder, or at least glad to see 
and help that murder should be done, on all who re- 
fused obedience and submission to the pope, even to 
his smallest word. 

Such a Saul was I at that time, and meant it right 
earnestly; and there are still many such to-day. I 
verily espoused this cause in deepest earnest and with 
all fidelity, the more because I shrank from the Last 
Day with great fear and trembling, and yet longed 
from the bottom of my heart to be saved. 

Therefore, dear Christian reader, thou wilt note in 
my earlier books and writings many points of faith 
which I then humbly yielded and conceded to the 
pope, but which I have since come to recognize and 
condemn as the most horrible blasphemies and abomi- 
nations, and which I would have to be recognized and 
condemned as such for ever: Amen. 

Thou wilt therefore ascribe this my error, or as 
my opponents venomously term it, this my inconsis- 
tency, to the circumstances of the time and to my own 
ignorance and inexperience. At the outset I was quite 
alone and without any helpers, and to tell the truth, 
unskilled in such things, and far too unlearned to dis- 
cuss such high and weighty matters. For it was 



4 LUTHER PRIMER 

without any intention, purpose or will of my own that 
I fell, quite unexpectedly, into this wrangling and con- 
tention. This I take God, the Searcher of hearts, to 
witness. 

Farewell, dear reader, in the Lord. Pray that the 
Word may be further spread abroad and may prevail 
against the devil. For he is mighty and wicked, and 
is even now raving and raging cruelly, as one who well 
knows that his time is short, and that the kingdom 
of his vicar, the Roman Antichrist, is sore beset. But 
may the God of all grace and mercy strengthen and 
perfect the work He has begun in us, to His glory 
and the comfort of His little flock: Amen. [1545] 



' II 

A Letter to a Monk 

(April 8, 1516) 

[This is one of the earliest of the over 3,000 extant let- 
ters of Luther, and shows how firm a grasp he had thus 
early on the cardinal truth of the Gospel he was to preach 
and teach all his life long — justification by faith. It also 
shows the influence upon him of the German mystics, one 
of whose finest products — The German Theology — he pub- 
lished in the same year. The recipient of the letter was 
George Spenlein, an Augustinian brother, who had been 
at Wittenberg in 15 12, and was now living in Memmingen; 
later on he became evangelical pastor at Arnstadt in Thur- 
ingia.] 



Grace and peace from God the Father and the 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

Dearest Brother George: I should like to know 
how it is with thy soul, and whether it has at last 
learned to despise its own righteousness and to seek 
comfort and joy in that of Christ. For at present the 
temptation to rest in one's own works is very strong, 
especially with those who strive with all their might 
to become righteous. They are ignorant of God's 
righteousness, which has been so richly bestowed on us 
in Christ, without money and without price; they try 
to do good of themselves, until they imagine they can 
appear before God adorned with all virtues and merits. 
But this they can never do. When thou wast with 
me thou w^ast thyself of this opinion, or rather de- 



6 LUTHER PRIMER 

lusion, and so was I, who even yet have not completely 
conquered it, though I fight against it daily. 

Therefore, my sweet brother, learn Christ and Him 
crucified. Praise and laud His holy name, and des- 
pising thyself say to Him: "Thou, Lord Jerus, art mv 
righteousness, and I am Thy sin ; Thou hast assumed 
what is mine, and given me what is Thine ; Thou hast 
taken on Thee what Thou wast not, and hast given 
me what I was not.'' Beware of aiming at a purity 
which rebels at being classed with sinners. For Christ 
dwells only among sinners. For this cause He came 
down from Heaven, where He dwelt among the 
righteous, so that He might sojourn also with the sin- 
ful. Consider that love of His, and thou wilt ex- 
perience His sweet consolation. For if by our own 
efforts we are to obtain peace of conscience, why then 
did Christ die? Thou wilt therefore find peace no- 
where but in Him, when thou most completely des- 
pairest of self and thine own works. He Himself 
will teach thee how in receiving thee He makes thy 
sins His and His righteousness thine. 

If thou firmly believest this (and he is damned that 
does not believe), then do thou, too, bear patiently 
with thine erring brethren, making their sins thine 
own, and letting whatever goodness thou hast become 
theirs. For thus the Apostle teacheth : "Receive one 
another, even as Christ received you, to the glory of 
God" [Rom. 15:7]; and again: "Let this mind be 
in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in 
the form of God, humbled himself," etc. [Phil. 2:5 ff.} 



A LETTER TO A MONK 



Do thou the same; and if thou appear to be better 
than others, do not think it "robbery," as though it 
belonged to thee alone, but humble thyself, forget what 
thou art, and become as one of them, that thou 
mayest bear with them. 

For that is a sorry saint, who will not bear patiently 
with those that are beneath him, but thinks only to 
run away and be by himself. That w^ould be to bury 
the Lord's talent and not give one's fellow-servants 
their due. He ought rather to stay with them, and 
by patience, prayer, and a good example exercise a 
salutary influence over them. 

Therefore, if thou art a lily or a rose of Christ, 
know that thy place must needs be among thorns. 
Only see that through impatience, hasty judgments, 
or secret pride, thou dost not thyself become a thorn. 
Christ's kingdom, says the Psalmist, is in the midst of 
enemies [Ps. 110:2]. Why, then, feign to be sur- 
rounded only by faithful friends? If He had desired to 
live only among the good or to die only for His friends, 
for whom would He have been able to die, and with 
whom could He have lived? This do, my brother, and 
pray for me. The Lord be with thee, in whom fare- 
well. 

Thy brother, 

Martin Luther, 

Augustinian. 



Ill 

The XCV Theses 

(October 31, 1517) 

[As professor at the University, Luther treated, in the 
course of his lectures, of the theory of indulgences, while 
as associate pastor of the City-church, preaching the gos- 
pel of grace and hearing confession, he experienced in 
the most direct and practical way their harmful results. 
The Dominican John Tetzel was the principal agent of the 
"indulgence campaign" of that period, and although for- 
bidden by Frederick the Wise to enter his domain, he yet 
came as far as the little town of Jueterbog, just across the 
border, and attracted thither a great many people from 
Saxony, among them some of Luther's parishioners. On the 
eve of All Saints' (October 31, 1517) Luther posted ninety- 
five theses, or propositions, on indulgences on the University 
bulletin-board at the door of the Castle-church. They were 
written in the Latin language, and were intended not at 
all as an appeal to the people, but merely as the basis for 
an academic discussion of the whole subject. They were 
very mild in form and substance, and did not attack the 
system but rather the abuse. No one was more surprised 
than Luther at the stir they made. The discussion never 
took place, but in a very short time the theses had spread 
like wild-fire over all Germany. In the light of the his- 
torical result, the posting of the XCV Theses was seen to 
have been the actual beginning of the great Protestant 
Reformation. — For a good historical and doctrinal intro- 
duction to the Theses, see Works of Martin Luther (Phila- 
delphia: 1915), vol. 1, pp. 15-24.] 



i. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He 
said, "Do penance'' [Matt. 4:17 ; the form of this verse 
in the Roman Bible], desired the whole life of believers 
to be penance [or, repentance]. 2. This word can- 
not be understood to mean sacramental penance, i. e., 



THE XCV THESES 



confession and satisfaction, as administered by the 
priests. 3. Nor does it mean inward repentance 
only; there is no inward repentance which does not 
outwardly work divers mortifications of the flesh. 

5. The pope does not purpose to remit, nor can 
he remit, any penalties other than those which he has 
imposed. 6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, ex- 
cept by declaring and affirming that it has been re- 
mitted by God. 20. By "full remission of all penal- 
ties/' therefore, the pope means not actually "of all,'* 
but only of those imposed by him. 21. Therefore, 
those preachers of indulgences err, who say that by the 
pope's pardons a man is freed from every penalty and 
saved. 

27. They preach human fables, who say that as 
soon as the penny goes jingling into the money-box, 
the soul flies out of purgatory. 32. They will be 
condemned eternally, together with their teachers, who 
believe themselves sure of their salvation because they 
have letters of pardon [or indulgences]. 33. Men 
should rather be on their guard against those who say 
that the pope's pardon is that inestimable gift of God 
by which man is reconciled to Him. 35. They 
preach no Christian doctrine- who teach that con- 
trition is not necessary in those who intend to buy souls 
out of purgatory or to buy confessionalia.j- 37. Every 
true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all 



fPrivileges entitling their holders to choose their own con- 
fessors, and relieving them of certain satisfactions. 



IO LUTHER PRIMER 



the blessings of Christ and the Church ; and this is 
granted him by God, even without letters of pardon. 

43. Christians should be taught that he who gives 
to the poor or lends to the needy does a better work than 
if he bought pardons; 44. Because love grows by 
works of love, and men become better; but by indul- 
gences men do not grow better but only more free from 
penalty. 46. Christians should be taught that unless 
they have more than they need, they are b^und to keep 
back what is necessary for their own families, and by 
no means to squander it on indulgences. 50. Chris- 
tians should be taught that if the pope knew of the 
exactions of the pardon-hawkers, he would rather that 
St. Peter's Church [to the building of which a part of 
the indulgence money was devoted] should go to ashes, 
than that it should be built up with the skin, flesh 
and bones of his sheep. 53. They are enemies of 
Christ and of the pope, who cause the Word to be 
altogether silent in certain churches, in order that in- 
dulgences may be preached in others. 54. Injury is 
done to the Word of God when, in a sermon, an equal 
or longer time is devoted to indulgences than to the 
Word of God. 

56. The "treasures of the Church," out of which 
the pope grants indulgences, are not sufficiently named 
or known among the people of Christ. 62. The true 
treasure of the Church is the most holy Gospel of the 
grace and glory of God. 63. But this treasure is 
naturally most odious, because it makes the first to be 
last. 64. On the other hand, the treasure of in- 



THE XCV THESES II 



diligences is naturally most acceptable, because it makes 
the last to be first. 

69. Bishops and curates are bound to admit the 
commissaries of apostolic [papal] pardons with all 
reverence. 70. But still more are they bound to 
strain all their eyes and attend with all their ears, lest 
these men preach their own dreams instead of the com- 
mission of the pope. 71. Whoever speaks against the 
truth of apostolic pardons, let him be anathema. 72. 
But whoever guards against the lust and license of the 
pardon-preachers, let him be blessed. 79. To say 
that the cross emblazoned with the papal arms, which 
is set up by the preachers of indulgences, is of equal 
worth with the cross of Christ, is blasphemy. 

81. This unbridled preaching of pardons makes it 
no easy matter, even for learned men, to rescue the 
reverence due to the pope from slander, or even from 
the shrewd questionings of the laity. 90. To repress 
these arguments and scruples of the laity by force alone, 
and not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose 
the Church and the pope to the ridicule of their 
enemies, and to make Christians unhappy. 91. If 
therefore, pardons were preached according to the 
spirit and mind of the pope, all these doubts would be 
readily resolved, nay, they would never arise. 

92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say 
to the people of Christ, "Peace, peace," and there is no 
peace. 93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to 
Christ's people, "Cross, cross," and there is no cross. 
94. Christians should be exhorted to be diligent in 



12 LUTHER PRIMER 

following Christ their Head, through penalties, deaths 
and hell, 95. And thus to be confident of entering 
heaven through many tribulations [Acts 14:22] rather 
than through the assurance of peace. 



IV 

The Lord's Prayer Said Forwards and 
Backwards 

(1519) 

[Luther was pre-eminently a man of prayer. As a student 
his motto was, — "To pray well is to study well," and as 
a man, — "Prayer, meditation, and tribulation make a the- 
ologian." "I am so busy," he once said, "that if I did not 
spend at least two or three hours each day in prayer, I 
could not get through the day." We are told that he once 
prayed Melanchthon back to life from what was thought 
to be a fatal illness. The writings in which he deals with 
prayer are among the most precious products of his pen. 
One of the earliest of these is the little sketch here given, 
notable for the simplicity and quaintness of its conception 
(comp. chap, xxii).] 



The prayer of our Lord and Saviour, the holy "Our 
Father," may be prayed both forwards and backwards. 

I 

This blessed prayer is prayed forwards when the 
various petitions are said in the order in which they 
stand, to wit: — 

i. The first and principal thing is the hallowing of 
God's name. When this is done, all else will follow, 

2. But the name of God cannot be perfectly 
hallowed until this life of ours, which is never without 
sin, or the dishonoring of God's name, has reached its 
close and the kingdom of God is come. In order, 
therefore, that we may not for selfish reasons seek the 



14 LUTHER PRIMER 

kingdom of God, the hallowing of God's name is put 
first; so that we are to pray for our salvation and the 
coming of God's kingdom, not to the end that it may 
be well with us, but that the name, honor and glory of 
God may be praised and magnified. For when His 
name is praiserJ, our wellbeing and salvation follow 
of themselves. 

3. Now the kingdom of God cannot come unless 
His will is done. And this is the will of God — that 
we should be sanctified and should kill and destroy our 
sins and vices by means of the cross and death of 
Christ our Lord. Wherefore we pray as long as we are 
in this life, that this will may be accomplished. 

4. In our endeavors to do the will of God and 
in our labors to overcome sin, we need above all else 
the assistance of the Word of God and the Sacrament 
of Christ. This we have when the Word becomes our 
daily bread, whereby the spirit is nourished and 
strengthened and the flesh is destroyed. Although by 
"daily bread" it is possible that material bread is 
meantf 

5. But as long as we are in this life, our words and 
deeds are never free from sin, and although our sins 
are forgiven before God in heaven, yet this is not really 
known to us4 We therefore pray for certainty of 

fLuther here begins to forsake the traditional interpreta- 
tion of the fourth petition, in which the "bread" was under- 
stood in a spiritual sense. The Vulgate has "supersubstan- 
tial bread." Compare the explanation of "daily bread" in 
the two Catechisms. 

:j:A passing echo of the uncertainty of conscience pro- 
duced by the elaborate Roman system of penance. 



THE LORD'S PRAYER SAID FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS 1 5 

conscience whereby we may know and be sure that our 
sins are really forgiven, and may do God's will in 
word and deed w T ith joyful hearts. 

6. When we have obtained this certainty of con- 
science that our sins are forgiven, it is necessary that 
the same should be kept constant and steadfast. For 
we are afflicted by manifold temptations, which come 
upon us by the will of God. Therefore we pray, not 
indeed that we may be free from such afflictions, but 
that we may be sustained therein and saved, and not 
be brought into temptation. 

7. After having thus sought, and having done within 
ourselves, nothing but the things that are God's, we 
may then properly turn our eyes upon ourselves and 
pray last of all to be delivered from evil. Thus we 
put God first and ourselves last, we exalt God and 
abase ourselves ; in order that we may become, in God, 
the first and be exalted. 

II 

The petitions of the Lord's Prayer are also prayed 
backwards, namely by those who pray only with their 
lips and not in their heart. Such persons seek their 
own honor, name and glory rather than the glory of 
God. 

1. They desire to be delivered and set free from 
all evil, in order that they may lead happy lives and 
glory in their good fortune. 

2. They do well if they also desire not to be 
led into temptation ; they would like to be without 
evil, careless whether it be God's will or no. 



1 6 LUTHER PRIMER 

3. After that these men pray — or perhaps it is more 
correct to say they never pray — for the forgiveness of 
their sins. 

4. Still less do they pray for the Bread [see above]. 

5. That God's will be done; 

6. That God's kingdom come; 

7. That God's name be hallowed — for these things 
they pray not at all, but rather seek and desire, above 
all things, their own name, their own kingdom or 
supremacy, and their own will. 

It is therefore well worth noting that the first 
three petitions contain the word "Thy", and those 
that follow contain the words "us" and "our." This 
is intended to teach us to seek and desire first of all 
God's honor, kingdom and will, and only thereafter 
the things that pertain to ourselves, yet even these 
in no other way than by means of the things that per- 
tain to God's glory, kingdom and will. Amen. 



Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of 

the German Nation : Concerning the 

Reform of the Christian Estate 

(1520) 

["In his other works we learn to know him as the man 
of God, or the prophet, or the theologian ; in this treatise 
we meet Luther the German. His heart is full of grief for 
the affliction of his people, and grief turns to wrath as he 
observes that this affliction is put upon them by the tyranny 
and greed of the pope and the cardinals and the 'Roman 
vermin.' The situation is desperate; appeals and protests 
have been all in vain; and so as a last resort, he turns 
to the temporal authorities, — to Charles V, newly elected but 
as yet uncrowned; to the temporal lords, great and small, 
who have a voice in the imperial diet and powers of juris- 
diction in their own domains, — reciting the abuses of 'Ro- 
man tyranny,' and pleading with them to intervene in be- 
half of the souls that are going to destruction 'through the 
devilish rule of Rome.' It is a cry out of the heart of 
Germany, a nation whose bent is all religious, but which, 
from that very circumstance, is all the more open to the 
insults and wrongs and deceptions of the Roman curia. 
Yet it is no formless and incoherent cry, but an orderly re- 
cital of the ills of Germany. There are times when we 
feel in reading it that the writer is laying violent hands 
on his own wrath in the effort to be calm. For all its 
scathing quality, it is a sane arraignment of those who 
'under the holy name of Christ and St. Peter' are responsi- 
ble for the nation's woes, and the remedies that are pro- 
posed are, many of them, practicable as well as reasonable. 
— Its frank outspokenness about the true condition of Ger- 
many, the number and variety of the subjects that it treats, 
the multiplicity of the sources from which the subject-mat- 
ter is drawn, and the point of view from which the whole 
is discussed, make it a work of absorbing interest and price- 
less historical value. It shows the things that were 

in men's minds and the variety of motives w T hich led them 
to espouse the cause of the Protestant party. Doctrine, eth- 



15 LUTHER PRIMER 

ics, history, politics, economics, all have their place in the 
treatise. It is not only a 'blast on the war-trumpet,' but 
a connecting link between the thought of the Middle Ages 
and that of modern times, prophetic of the new age, but 
showing how clearly the new is bound up with the old." — 
Prof. C. M. Jacobs, in Works of Martin Luther, vol. ii, 
pp. 59-6o.] 



Part L The Three Walls of the Romanists 

The Romanists have with great adroitness built 
three walls about them, behind which they have hither- 
to defended themselves in such a manner that no one 
has been able to reform them; and this has been the 
cause of terrible corruption throughout all Christen- 
dom. First, when pressed by the ^temporal power [the 
secular government], they have made decrees and said 
that the temporal power has no jurisdiction over them, 
but that the spiritual power [the Church] is above the 
temporal. Second, when the attempt is made to re- 
prove them out of the Scriptures, they reply that the in- 
terpretation of the Scriptures belongs to the pope alone. 
Third, when threatened with a council, they answer 
with the fable that no one can call a council but the 
pope. Thus they sit within the stronghold of these 
three walls and safely practise all the knavery and 
wickedness which we at present behold. Now may 
God hglp us and give us one of the trumpets with 
which the walls of Jericho were overthrown [Joshua 
6:20], that we may blow down these walls of straw 
and paper. 



OPEN LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN NOBILITY 1 9 

Let us first attack the First Wall [i. e., the doctrine 
that the spiritual estate is above the temporal]. It 
is a pure fiction that pope, bishops, priests and monks 
are to be called "the spiritual estate"; but princes, 
lords, artisans and peasants, "the temporal estate" — tru- 
ly a fine bit of lying and hypocrisy. But let no one be 
frightened by it ; for all Christians are verily of "the 
spiritual estate," and there is among them no dif- 
ference save a difference of office. Thus St. Paul 
says (1 Cor. 12:12 ff.) we are all one body, yet every 
member has its own work whereby it serves every other 
member, because we have one baptism, one Gospel, one 
faith, and are all alike Christians ; for baptism, the 
Gospel, and faith alone make us "spiritual'' and 
Christian folk. 

Through baptism we are all of us consecrated to 
the priesthood, as St. Peter says (1 Peter 2:9), "Ye 
are a royal priesthood, a priestly nation," and the 
Revelation of St. John (Rev. 5:10), "Thou hast made 
us by thy blood to be priests and kings." 

Since, then, the temporal authorities are baptised 
with the same baptism and have the same faith and 
Gospel as we, we must admit that they are priests 
and bishops, and must regard their office as having a 
proper and useful place in the Christian community. 
For whoever has come [he says drastically, "has 
crawled"] out of the water of baptism can boast that 
he is already consecrated priest, bishop and pope, though 
it is not proper that every one should exercise the 
duties of such an office. Nay, just because we are 



20 LUTHER PRIMER 

all in like manner priests, no one should thrust him- 
self forward and undertake, without the consent and 
choice of the rest, to do what is in the power of all. 
[Comp. below, p. 88.] 

Therefore, a priest ought to be nothing else than 
an office-holder in the Church. While he is in office 
he has precedence; when he is deposed, he is a peasant 
or townsman like the rest. Without doubt, then, a 
priest is no longer a priest when he is deposed. 

Therefore, just as those who are now styled 
"spiritual" — priests, bishops, popes — are neither differ- 
ent from other Christians nor superior to them, save in 
so far as they are charged with the administration of 
the Word of God and the sacraments, which is their 
w^ork and office: so it is with the temporal authorities, 
— they bear the sword and rod with which to punish 
the evil and protect the good. A cobbler, a smith, 
a farmer, each has the work and office of his calling, 
and yet they are all alike consecrated priests and bish- 
ops, and each one of them must benefit and serve the 
rest by means of his particular work and office, so that 
in this way many kinds of work may be performed for 
the bodily and spiritual welfare of the community, 
just as all the members of man's body serve one an- 
other. 

Now you will perceive how Christian is the decree 
which asserts that the secular power is not above the 
spiritual estate and may not punish it. That is the 
same as saying the hand should lend no aid to the eye 
when it is in pain ! Since the secular power is ordained 



OPEN LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN NOBILITY 21 

of God (Rom. 13), to punish evildoers and to pro- 
tect them that do well, I say it should be left free to 
perform its functions unhindered throughout the whole 
body of Christendom, without respect of persons, 
whether it affect pope, bishops, priests, monks, nuns, 
or anyone else. For if the mere fact that the secular 
government occupies a lower place among the Chris- 
tian estates than the office of the clergy, were sufficient 
to prevent it from exercising its functions, then the tail- 
ors, cobblers, masons, carpenters, pot-boys, tapsters, far- 
mers, and all secular tradesmen should likewise be pre- 
vented from providing pope, bishops, priests, and monks 
with shoes, clothing, dwellings, meat and drink, and 
from paying them tribute! 

The Christian temporal power should therefore fulfil 
the duties of its office without let or hindrance, regard- 
less whether it be pope or bishop or priest whom it 
touches. Whoever is guilty, let him take his punishment. 
All that the canon law has said to the contrary is the 
merest fiction of Roman arrogance. For St. Paul says 
to all Christians (Rom. 13:1, 4) : "Let every soul (I 
take that to mean the pope's soul, too) be subject 
unto the higher powers/' etc. St. Peter also says 
(1 Peter 2:13, 15): "Submit yourselves unto every 
ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, for so is the 
will of God." 

So then, I think this first paper-wall is overthrown, 
since the temporal power has become a member of the 
body of Christendom, and is of the spiritual estate, 
though its work is of a secular nature. 



22 LUTHER PRIMER 

The Second Wall [the pope is the sole interpreter 
of Scripture ; papal infallibility] is still more flimsy 
and worthless. They desire to be the onfy masters of 
Holy Scripture, even though they learn nothing from 
it as long as they live. They arrogate to themselves 
all authority, and with insolent juggling of words 
seek to persuade us that the pope, whether he be a 
wicked man or a good, cannot err in matters of faith. f 

Yet they cannot prove a syllable of this. If it were 
true, where would be the need or use of the Holy 
Scriptures? Let us burn them, and he satisfied with 
the unlearned lords at Rome who are possessed of the 
Holy Spirit, though He can enter none but pious 
hearts! Has not the pope erred many times? Who 
would help Christendom when the pope errs, if we 
were not to believe another who had the Scriptures 
on his side, rather than the pope? 

It is a wickedly invented fable, and they cannot 
produce a letter in defence of it, that the interpre- 
tation of Scripture or the confirmation of its interpre- 
tation belongs to the pope alone. They themselves 
have usurped this power ; and although they allege that 
it was conferred on Peter when the keys were given 
to him (Matt. 16), it is plain enough that the keys 
were not given to Peter alone, but to the whole con- 
gregation. Moreover, the keys were not ordained for 
doctrine or government, but only for the binding and 

fThis claim of papal infallibility was repeatedly made by 
the champions of papal power, though it attained to the dig- 
nity of an official doctrine only in 1870 (at the Vatican 
Council). 



OPEN LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN NOBILITY 23 

loosing of sins ; whatever additional power of the keys 
they arrogate to themselves is the merest fiction. Be- 
sides, it is not the pope alone who is always in the 
right, if the article in the Creed is correct, "I be- 
lieve in one Holy Christian Church." Otherwise the 
prayerf should run, "I believe in the pope at Rome," 
and the Christian Church would be reduced to one 
man — which is nothing short of a devilish and hellish 
error. — Moreover, if we are all priests, why should we 
not also have the power to test and judge what is 
correct or incorrect in matters of faith? — In the olden 
days, Abraham had to listen to his Sarah (Gen. 21 :i2), 
although she was in more complete subjection to him 
than we are to any man on earth. Balaam's ass, too, 
was wiser than the prophet himself (Num. 22:28). 
If God then spoke by an ass against a prophet, why 
should He not be able even now to speak by a right- 
eous man against a pope? It is therefore the duty of 
every Christian to do his best to understand and defend 
the faith, and to condemn all errors. 

The Third Wall [the pope is above the council] falls 
of itself, when the other two are down. — They have 
no warrant in Scripture for their contention that it 
belongs to the pope alone to convoke a council or to 
confirm its decrees ; this claim is based entirely on 
their own laws, which are valid only so far as they 
are not injurious to Christendom or contrary to the 
laws of God. When the pope deserves punishment, 
these laws of theirs go out of force, since it is injurious 



fThe Creed, not only said, but prayerfully said. 



24 LUTHER PRIMER 

to Christendom not to punish him by means of a 
council. — Therefore, whenever necessity demands, and 
the pope is an offense to Christendom, the first man 
who is able should, as a faithful member of the whole 
body, do all he can to bring to pass a truly freef 
council. And no one can do this so well as the temporal 
authorities, especially since they also are now fellow- 
Christians, fellow-priests, fellow-"spirituals," fellow- 
lords over all things. 

But all their boasts of an authority that dare not 
be opposed amount to nothing after all. No one in 
Christendom has authority to do injury, or to forbid the 
resisting of injury. There is no authority in the 
Church save for edification. Therefore, if the pope were 
to use his authority to prevent the calling of a free 
council, and thus become a hindrance to the edification 
of the Church, we should have regard neither for him 
nor for his authority; and if he hurled his bans and 
thunderbolts, we should disregard his conduct as that of 
a madman, and relying on God, hurl his ban back 
on him and coerce him as best we could. Let us, 
then, hold fast to this: No Christian authority 
can do anything against Christ, and whatever does 
anything against Christ is the power of Anti- 
christ and of the devil, even though it were to rain 
and hail wonders and plagues. 

[Summary.] Thus I hope that the false, lying 
terror, with which the Romans have this long time 
made our conscience timid and stupid, has been allayed. 



fThat is, one not subject to the pope. 



OPEN LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN NOBILITY 25 

(1) They, like all of us, are subject to the temporal 
sword; (2) they have no power to interpret the Scrip- 
tures by mere authority without scholarship ; ( 3 ) they 
have no authority to prevent a council or, in sheer 
wantonness, to pledge it, bind it, or take away its liber- 
ty: if they do this, they are in truth the communion of 
Antichrist and of the devil, and have nothing at all 
of Christ save the name. 

Part II. Abuses to be Discussed in Councils 

1. [Wordliness of the pope.] It is a horrible and 
frightful thing that the ruler of Christendom, who 
boasts of being vicar of Christ and successor to St. 
Peter, lives in such worldly splendor that no king 
nor emperor can compare with him ; and that he who 
claims the title of "most holy" and "most spiritual" is 
more worldly than the world itself. He wears a 
triple crown, while the greatest kings wear but a single 
crown. If that is like the poverty of Christ and of 
St. Peter, it is a new sort of likeness. I think that 
if the pope were to come before God with prayers and 
tears, he would have to lay aside those crowns of his, 
for our God cannot abide pride. And what else ought 
his office to consist in than in offering prayers and tears 
every day for the Church, and in setting an example 
of all humility? — An ordinary bishop's crown would 
suffice for the pope. He should surpass other men in 
wisdom and holiness, and leave the crowns of pride to 
Antichrist. They say he is lord of the world. That 
is not true ; for Christ, whose vicar he boasts himself, 



26 LUTHER PRIMER 

said before Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" 
(John 18:36), and no vicar's rule can extend beyond 
that of his lord. Moreover, he is not the vicar of 
the glorified, but of the crucified Christ. 

2. [Cardinals.] — What is the use in Christendom 
of the people called cardinals? I will tell you. There 
are in Italy and Germany many rich monasteries, foun- 
dations, benefices and livings. No better way has been 
discovered to bring them all to Rome than by creating 
cardinals and giving them the bishoprics, monasteries 
and prelacies, whereby the worship of God is sup- 
pressed. Thus it happens that we now see Italy turned 
into a very wilderness — monasteries in ruins, bishoprics 
devoured, the prelacies and revenues of all the churches 
drawn to Rome, cities decayed, land and people laid 
waste, and worship and preaching abandoned. Why? 
The cardinals must have the income. No Turk could 
have so devastated Italy and suppressed the worship of 
God. And now that Italy is sucked dry, they come 
to Germany. And they begin — oh, ever so gently ! 
But let us beware, or Germany will soon become a 
second Italy. Already we have a number of cardinals ; 
what the purpose of the Romans is, "the drunken 
Germans" are not to know, until we have not a bish- 
opric, a monastery, a living, a benefice, a heller or a 
pfennig left. Antichrist must needs take the treasures 
of the earth, as it was foretold (Dan. 11:39, 43). I 
advise that the number of cardinals be reduced, or that 
the pope be compelled to provide for them out of his 
own pocket. — How is it that we Germans must put 



OPEN' LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN NOBILITY 27 

up with such robbery and extortion at the hands of the 
pope? If the kingdom of France has prevented it, why 
do we Germans let them make such fools and apes of 
us? — Even if there were not a single cardinal, the 
Church would not go under. 

3. [The Curia.] — If ninety-nine parts of the papal 
court were done away and only the hundredth part 
allowed to remain, it would still be large enough to 
give decisions in matters of faith. Now, however, 
there is such a swarm of vermin yonder in Rome, all 
boasting that they are "papal," that there was never 
anything like it in Babylon. There are more than 
3,000 papal secretaries alone, and who will count the 
other offices? And they all lie in wait for the pre- 
bends and benefices of Germany as wolves lie in wait 
for sheep. I believe that Germany now gives a great 
deal more to the pope at Rome than it gave in 
former times to the emperors. Indeed, according to 
some estimates, more than 300,000 gulden annually 
find their way from Germany to Rome, quite use- 
lessly and without any return; we get nothing for it 
but contempt and scorn. And yet we wonder that 
princes, cities, endowments, land and people are 
impoverished. We had better wonder that we still 
have anything to eat. 

Part III. Proposals for Reform 

[He discusses 27 in all, covering a very wide range, 
such as the following:] 



2 8 LUTHER PRIMER 

21. One of the greatest needs is the abolition of all 
begging throughout Christendom. Among Chris- 
tians no one ought to go a-begging. It would be 
easy to pass a law, if we only had the courage and the 
will to do it, to the effect that every city should provide 
for its own poor and admit no foreign beggars, what- 
ever name they might bear, whether pilgrims or 
mendicant friars. Every city should support its own 
poor, or if it be too small, the folk in the surrounding 
villages should also be exhorted to contribute, since 
they have at any rate to feed so many vagabonds and 
knaves in the guise of mendicants. In this way, too, 
it could be ascertained who were really poor and who 
not. There would need to be an overseer or warden, 
who knew all the poor and informed the city council 
or the priests of their needs. 

To be sure, some think that in this way the poor 
would not be so well provided for, and that not so 
many great stone houses and monasteries would be 
built. This I can well believe. Nor is it necessary. 
Whoever wants to be poor should not be rich; if he 
wants to be rich, let him put his hand to the plow and 
seek his riches in the earth. It is enough if the poor 
are decently cared for, so that they do not perish of 
hunger or cold. It is not fitting that one man should 
live in idleness on another's labor, or be rich and live 
in comfort .at the cost of another's discomfort, as is 
the present perverse custom; for St. Paul says (2 
Thess. 3:10), "If a man will not work, neither 
shall he eat'." 



OPEN LETTER TO THE CHRISTIAN NOBILITY 29 

27. There is great need of a general law and de- 
cree of the German nation against the extravagance 
and excess in dress, by which so many nobles and rich 
men are impoverished. God has given to us, as to 
other lands, enough wool, hair, flax, and everything 
else which serves for the proper and honorable dress 
of every rank, so that we do not need to squander such 
enormous sums for silk, velvet, golden ornaments and 
other foreign wares. — In like manner it is necessary to 
restrict the spice-traffic, which is another of the great 
ships that carry good money out of German lands. 
There grows among us, by God's grace, more to eat 
and drink than in any other land, and every whit as 
choice and good. 

We must put a bit in the mouth of the Fuggers 
[the great Augsburg trading-company] and similar cor- 
porations. How is it possible that in the lifetime of 
one man such enormous possessions, worthy of a king, 
can be amassed and everything be done legally and ac- 
cording to God's will ? 

And then there is the abuse of eating and drinking 
which gives us Germans such a bad name in foreign 
lands, as though it were our particular vice. Preach- 
ing cannot stop it; it has become too common and has 
gained the upper hand. The waste of money which 
it causes would be a small thing, were it not followed 
by other sins — murder, adultery, stealing, irreverence, 
and all the vices. The temporal sword can do little to 
prevent it; it will be as Christ says: "The last day 
shall come like a secret snare, when they shall be eat- 



30 LUTHER PRIMER 

ing and drinking, marrying and wooing, building and 
planting, buying and selling" (Luke 21 134 f.) It is so 
much like that at present I verily believe the judgment 
day is not far off, though men now least of all look 
for it. 



VI 

The Babylonian Captivity of the Church 

(1520) 

[Only two months after the Open Letter Luther published 
his Babylonian Captivity. As in the former we see Luther 
the German, so here Luther the theologian. It was writ- 
ten for the learned world, in the Latin language, and is a 
most elaborate examination and critique of the Roman 
sacramental system as expressed in the doctrine and prac- 
tice of baptism, confirmation, penance, communion, mar- 
riage, ordination, and extreme unction. His method is en- 
tirely scriptural, lenient toward all non-essentials, but in- 
flexible over against all essentials. After he is through 
with the seven sacraments, but two remain — baptism and 
the Lord's Supper. The treatise marks Luther's definite 
break with the theology of Rome, and brought him into 
a hard fray with King Henry VIII of England. — See Works 
of Martin Luther, vol. ii, 167 ff.] 



Willy nilly, I am compelled to become every day 
more learned, with so many able masters vying with 
one another to improve my mind. Some two years ago 
I wrote a little book on indulgences, which I now 
deeply regret having published ; for at the time I was 
still sunk in a mighty superstitious reverence for the 
Roman tyranny and held that indulgences should not 
be altogether rejected, seeing they were approved by 
the common consent of men. Since then, however, 
through the kindness of Sylvester £nd the friars, who S3 
strenuously took up the defense of indulgences, I have 
come to see that they are nothing but an imposture of 
the Roman sycophants by which they play havoc with 
men's faith and fortunes. Would to God I could pre- 



32 LUTHER PRIMER 

vail upon the booksellers and upon my readers to burn 
up the whole of my writings on indulgences and sub- 
stitute for them this proposition: Indulgences are a 
Knavish Trick of the Roman Sycophants. 

Next came Eck and Emser, with their fellows, who 
undertook to instruct me concerning the supremacy of 
the pope. Here again, in order not to prove ungrateful 
to such learned folk, I acknowledge how greatly I have 
profited by their labors. For, while denying the divine 
authority of the papacy, I had yet acknowledged its 
human authority. But after hearing and reading the 
subtle subtleties of these coxcombs with which they 
adroitly prop their idol, I now know of a certainty 
that the papacy is the kingdom of Babylon and the 
power of Nimrod the mighty hunter. 

And now they are putting me to school again and 
teaching me about communion in both kinds 
[that is, communion in which both bread and 
wine are administered ; communion in one kind refers 
to the administration of the bread alone] . Here I must 
fall to with all my might in order not to hear these 
my pedagogues in vain 

I must deny at the outset that there are seven sac- 
raments, and hold for the present to but three — bap- 
tism, penance [later in the course of the treatise he 
gives up penance also], and the bread [communion; 
so called because the cup was not administered to the 
laity]. These have been subjected to a miserable cap- 
tivity by the Roman curia [papal court], and the 
Church has been completely deprived of her liberty. 



THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY OF THE CHURCH 33 

I. The Bread 

1. [The first captivity: the withholding of the cup 
from the laity.] 

John vi is to be entirely excluded from this dis- 
cussion, for there is not a single syllable in it about 
the sacrament. Not only was the sacrament not yet 
instituted when these words were spoken, but the whole 
context plainly shows that Christ .is speaking of faith 
in the Word made flesh. He says "My words are 
spirit, and they are life/' which shows that He is speak- 
ing of a spiritual eating, whereby whoever eats has life. 
No eating can give life save the eating which is by 
faith, for that is the true spiritual and living eating. 
The sacramental eating does not of itself give life, for 
many eat unworthily. Therefore He cannot be under- 
stood as speaking in this passage of the sacrament. 

There are two passages that do clearly bear upon our 
subject — the Gospel narratives of the institution of the 
Lord's Supper, and Paul in i Cor. n. Matthew, 
Mark and Luke agree that Christ gave the entire sac- 
rament to all the disciples, and it is clear that Paul 
delivered both kinds [bread and wine ; I Cor. 1 1 123 
ff.]. Further, Matthew reports that Christ said not 
of the bread, "Eat ye all of it," but of the cup, "Drink 
ye all of it," and Mark does not say, "they all ate of 
it," but "they all drank of it." Matthew and Mark 
both attach the note of universality to the cup, not to 
the bread, as though the Spirit had anticipated this 
heresy by which some are forbidden to partake of the 
cup which Christ desired should be common to all. 



34 LUTHER PRIMER 

How furiously would they rave against us if they had 
found the word "all'' attached to the bread instead of 
the cup! But now that it stands on our side, and 
against them, they will not be bound by any force of 
logic. 

2. [The second captivity: Transubstantiation.f] 

I have at length found rest for my conscience in the 
view that it is real bread and real wine in which 
Christ's real flesh and blood are present. There are 
good grounds for this view of mine, and this above all : 
No violence is to be done to God's words, whether by 
man or angel ; they are to be retained in their simplest 
meaning wherever possible, and to be understood in 
their literal and grammatical sense, unless the context 
plainly forbids ; lest we give our opponents occasion to 
make a mockery of all the Scriptures. Why do we not 
cling simply to the word of Christ, willing to remain 
ignorant of what here takes place, and content with 
this, — that the real body of Christ is present by virtue 
of the words? Or is it necessary to comprehend the 
precise manner of the divine working down to the 
tiniest detail? 

3. [The third captivity: the mass is made a good 
work and a sacrifice.] 

This is the most wicked abuse of all The 

mass [Luther and the earlier Protestant writers, as 



fThe theory of the Church of Rome that in the Lord's 
Supper the substance of the bread and wine is miraculously 
transformed into the substance of the body and blood of 
Christ, while retaining its attributes, such as form, color, 
taste, etc. 



THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY OF THE CHURCH 35 

well as the Lutheran Confessions, retain this word for 
the service of communion] is nothing else than the 
divine promise or testament of Christ, sealed with the 
sacrament [i. e., the sign] of His body and blood. If 
that is true, you will see that it cannot possibly be a 
work, that there is nothing that we do in it, and that 
it cannot be partaken in any other way than by faith 
alone. And faith is not a work, but the mistress and 
the life of all works. Where in all the w T orld is there 
a man so foolish as to regard a promise made to him, 
or a testament given to him, as a good work which 
by his acceptance of it he renders to the testator? 
Where is the heir w^ho imagines he is doing his de- 
parted parent a kindness by agreeing to the terms of 
his will and accepting the inheritance bequeathed to 
him? 

What wicked presumption is it, therefore, when we 
who are to receive the testament of God approach the 
altar as persons who would perform a good work for 
Him! When we ought to be grateful for a benefit 
to be received, we come in our arrogance to give that 
which we ought to take, mocking with unheard-of per- 
versity the mercy of the Giver by giving as a good 
work the thing we receive as a gift ; so that the Testa- 
tor, instead of being the dispenser of His own goods, 
is made to be the beneficiary of ours. Out upon such 
godless doings ! 

II. Baptism 

1. The first thing to be considered in baptism is 
the divine promise — "He that believeth and is bap- 



36 LUTHER PRIMER 

tised shall be saved" [Mark 16:16]. This promise 
must be set far above all the glitter of works, vows, 
religious orders, and whatever man has added thereto ; 
for on it alone our salvation depends .... Just as 
the truth of this divine promise, once pronounced over 
us, continues until our death, so our faith in the same 
ought never to cease, but to be nourished and strength- 
ened until death, by the continual remembrance of this 
promise made to us in our baptism. 

Therefore, when we rise from our sins, or repent, we 
do but return to the power and the faith of our bap- 
tism from whence we fell, and find our way back again 
to the promise there made to us, from which we de- 
parted when we sinned. For the truth of the promise 
once made remains steadfast, ever ready to receive us 
back with open arms. 

2. The second part of baptism is the sign or sac- 
rament, which is that immersion into the water whence 
it also derives its name; for the Greek baptizo means 
"I immerse," and baptisma means "immersion'' . . . . 
. . . Baptism, then signifies two things — death and 
resurrection, that is, full and complete justification. 
The minister's plunging the child into the water 
signifies death, his drawing it forth again signifies life. 
Thus St. Paul expounds it in Rom. 6:4. This death 
and resurrection we call the new creation, regeneration, 
and the spiritual birth. For this reason I would have 
the candidate for baptism completely immersed in the 
water, as the word indicates and as the sacrament 
[sign] signifies. Not that I deem this necessary, but 



THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY OF THE CHURCH 37 

it were well to give to so perfect and complete a signi- 
ficance a perfect and complete sign. 

Baptism is not the matter of a moment, but con- 
tinues for all time. Although its administration is 
soon over, yet the thing it signifies continues until we 
die, nay until we rise at the last day. For as long as 
we live we are continually doing that which our 
baptism signifies — we die and rise again. All our life 
should be baptism, and the fulfilling of the sign, or 
sacrament, of baptism ; we have been set free from 
all else and wholly given over to baptism, that is, to 
death and resurrection. 

3. [The glorious liberty of the baptised.] 
Neither pope nor bishop nor any other man has the 

right to impose a single syllable of law upon a Christian 
without his consent; and if he does, it is in the spirit 
of tyranny. Therefore, the prayers, fasts, donations, 
and whatever else the pope decrees and demands in all 
his decretals, are without any authority whatever; he 

sins thereby against the liberty of the Church 

I admit that Christians ought to bear this accursed 
tyranny, just as they would any other violence of this 
world, according to Christ's word, "If one smite thee 
on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other." [Matt. 

5:39] 

4. [Vows, and the baptismal vow.] 

One thing more will I add — and would to God I 
might persuade all to do it. I would have men com- 
pletely abolish or avoid all vows, be they vows to enter 
religious orders, to go on pilgrimage, or to do any work 



38 LUTHER PRIMER 

whatever; in order that we may remain in the liberty 
of our baptism, which is the most religious and rich in 
good works . . ... . For we have vowed enough in 

baptism, more indeed than we shall ever be able 
to perform ; if we give ourselves to the keeping of this 
one vow, we shall have all that we can do. 

[In a similar manner Luther takes up the remain- 
ing five so-called sacraments, and concludes his treatise 
with these w r ords:] 

I hear a rumor of fresh papal bulls and maledictions 
against me, in which I am urged to recant or be de- 
clared a heretic [see chap. viii]. If this is true, I desire 
this book to be a portion of the recantation I shall 
make ; so that these tyrants need not complain of hav- 
ing had their plans for nothing. The remainder I shall 
publish ere long, and it will, please Christ, be such 
as the Roman See has hitherto neither seen nor heard- 
In the name of our Lord Jesus : Amen. 



Why doth that impious Herod fear 
When told that Christ the King is near 
He takes not earthly realms away, 
Who gives the realms that ne'er decay. 



VII 

The Liberty of a Christian Man 

(1520) 

[This is the third of the great reformatory treatises of 
the wonderful year 1520. After the mighty thunder of the 
former two, it comes indeed as a still small voice. Having 
overthrown the three walls behind which Rome sat en- 
trenched in her temporal power, and having entered and 
taken her central sanctuary — the sacramental system by 
which she accompanied her members from the cradle to 
the grave — Luther now sets forth in language of almost 
lyrical rapture the liberty of the Christian man. The No- 
bility was addressed to the German nation as such, and is 
written in the language of the people ; the Captivity, as 
becomes a theological treatise, was composed in Latin ; the 
Liberty, touching the religious life of the individual, whether 
layman or theologian, is sent out in both German and Latin. 
It is perhaps the most beautiful of his many writings, in 
its firm grasp on the heart of the Gospel, in the originality 
of its conception, and in the tender inwardness of its spirit. 
In his dedicatory letter to Pope Leo X, Luther says of it: 
"It is a slight thing, if thou regard its bulk; but unless 
I am deceived, it contains in a brief form the sum of Chris- 
tian living." — Compare Works of Martin Luther, vol. ii, 
297-348.] 



i. In order that we may thoroughly understand 
what a Christian man is, and what the liberty where- 
with Christ hath made him free, I will set down these 
two propositions: — 

A Christian man is a most free lord over all things, 
and subject to no one: 

A Christian man is a most dutiful servant of all 
things, and subject to everyone. 

These two propositions are plainly found in St., 
Paul — "Though I am free from all men, yet have I 



40 LUTHER PRIMER 

made myself servant unto all" (i Cor. 9:19) ; and, 
""Owe no man anything, but to love one another" 
(Rom. 13:8). 

2. In order to understand these two contradictory 
sayings about liberty and bondage, we need to re- 
member that every Christian man is of a twofold 
nature — a spiritual and a bodily. So far as his spirit 
is concerned, he is called a spiritual, or new, or 
inward man ; so far as flesh and blood are 
concerned, he is called a carnal, or old, or 
outward man. And because of this duality of nature 
the Scriptures assert of him things which are directly 
contrary to each other, such as the aforementioned 
liberty and bondage. 



I 



3. Let us consider first the inward, spiritual man, 
in order to see what makes him a free and righteous 
Christian man. Now, it is clear that no outward 
thing whatsoever can make him free and righteous. 
For his righteousness and liberty, as well as his wicked- 
ness and bondage, are not physical nor external. What 
does it profit the soul if the body be free, enjoying 
good health, eating and drinking, and doing whatever 
it pleases? On the other hand, how can it harm the 
soul if the body be in bondage, sick or infirm, hungry 
and thirsty, and enduring unpleasant things? None of 
these things touch the soul; none can effect its liberty 
or bondage, its righteousness or wickedness. 



THE LIBERTY OF A CHRISTIAN MAN 41 

5. There is nothing else in heaven or on earth by 
which the soul may live and be righteous, free and 
Christian, than the holy Gospel, the Word of God. 
...... Let us be sure of this, that the soul can do 

without everything else save the Word of God, and 
without the Word of God nothing else can help her. 
But if she has this she needs naught else, but has in 
that Word abundance of food, joy, peace, light, power, 
righteousness, truth, wisdom, liberty and every good 
thing. 

6. If you ask what this word is, that bestows such 
grace, and how it is to be used, I answer: It is noth- 
ing else than the good news about Christ contained in 
the Gospel. Here is God saying to you that all your 
life and works are naught in His sight, and that you 
must perish forever with all that is within you. When 
you truly believe this, you must needs despair of self 
and acknowledge the truth of Hosea's saying, — "O 
Israel, thus hast thou destroyed thyself; but in me is 
thine help" (Hos. 13:9). Then, in order that you 
may come out of your destruction, He sets before you 
His dear Son Jesus Christ, and calls upon you through 
His living and comfortable Word to yield yourself to 
Him in firm faith and confidence in Him, and all your 
sins shall be forgiven because of this same faith, all 
your destruction overcome, you shall be righteous, 
true, at peace, and pious, all commandments shall be 
fulfilled, and you shall be free from all things; as St. 
Paul says, "A justified Christian shall live by faith 



42 LUTHER PRIMER 

alone'' (Rom. 1:17), and "Christ is the end and ful- 
filment of all commandments unto them that believe ,, 
(Rom. 10:4). 

8. But how is it that faith alone can make one right- 
eous and without any works confer such inestimable 
riches, seeing there are so many commands, laws, works 
and ceremonies prescribed in the Scriptures? Here we 
need to keep diligently in mind the fact that it is faith 
alone, without works, that justifies, makes free and 
saves, as we shall afterwards hear at greater length. 
We need also to know that all Scripture falls into two 
parts — God's law or command, and God's promise. 
The commands teach and prescribe manifold good 
works, but with all that these works are far from 
being done. The commands point out the way, but 
lend no help; they teach what we ought to do, but 
furnish no strength for the doing. Hence their purpose 
is only to bring home to us our inability to do good and 
to plunge us into despair. That is why they are 
called the Old Testament and belong one and all to 
the Old Testament. 

9. When a man has come to feel his helplessness, 
through the commands, and despairs of fulfilling the 
law, which yet must be fulfilled or he be damned, then 
he is well humbled and brought low in his own sight, 
and finds nothing in himself to make him righteous. 
Then comes the other part of Scripture, — the divine 
promise, which tells him: "If you desire to keep the 
commands, and be rid of your evil desires and sins, 



THE LIBERTY OF A CHRISTIAN MAN 43 

believe in Christ, in whom I promise you all grace, 
righteousness, peace and liberty. If you believe, you 
have; if you believe not, you have not. For, all that 
you cannot do by the works of the law, you can do 
easily and at once through faith. ' ' Thus the promises 
of God give what the law demands, and fulfil what the 
law requires, so that all may be of God alone, the 
command and also the fulfilment. Hence the promises 
are the New Testament and belong to the New Testa- 
ment. 

10. But these words of God, as all words of God, 
are holy, true, righteous, peaceable, free, and full of 
all goodness. Hence, if one clings to them in true 
faith, his soul is so intimately joined to them that all 
the virtues of the Word become his possessions. Thus, 
by contact with the Word of God, the soul becomes 
holy, righteous, true, peaceful, free, and filled with all 
goodness — a true child of God, through faith, as 
John says: "To them that believe on His name he 
giveth power to become the sons of God" (John I :i2). 

15. Now, Christ, who is the first-born, with all 
the honor and dignity this implies, imparts this birth- 
right to all His Christians. Through faith they, too, 
must needs be kings and priests together with Christ, 
as St. Peter says: "Ye are a royal priesthood and a 
priestly kingdom" (i Peter 2:9). And this is the man- 
ner of it. A Christian man is exalted so highly above all 
things, by faith, that he is a spiritual lord over all. For 
nothing can do him any harm so far as his salvation 
is concerned; all things must rather be subject to him 



44 LUTHER PRIMER 

and serve him to his salvation (Rom. 8:28). Not that 
we are in a physical sense lords over all things, to pos- 
sess or use them as men living on earth ; for we must 
needs suffer bodily death which none can escape, and 
are subject perforce to many other things, as we see in 
Christ and His saints. But this is a spiritual lord- 
ship, ruling in the midst of physical oppression; that 
is to say, I can use all things to further my soul's pro- 
gress, so that even death and pain must serve me to 
my salvation. This is a high and glorious digiity, 
and a true and almighty lordship, a spiritual kingdom, 
in which nothing is so good, nothing so evil, but it 
must work together for good to me, if I believe; and 
yet I really need none of these things, for my faith is 
all-sufficient. What a precious liberty and power the 
Christian has! 

16. But we are also priests, worthy to appear be- 
fore God in behalf of other men. Christ has obtained 
this for us, that we may in a spiritual manner inter- 
cede and pray for one another, as the priests intercede 

and pray in a bodily manner for the people 

Who can comprehend the lofty dignity of the Chris- 
tian ! As king, he rules over all things, death, life and 
sin ; as priest, he is all-powerful with God, for God 
does whatever he asks and desires. 

19. Let this suffice for the inward man, his liberty 
and righteousness, which need no law nor good works, 
nay, are harmed by them if one should presume to be 
justified thereby. 



THE LIBERTY OF A CHRISTIAN MAN 45 

II 

We now come to the second part — the outward man. 
Here we w T ill make reply to those who take offence 
at the above and say: "Well, if faith is everything 
and all-sufficient to make us righteous, why then are 
good works commanded? Let us take our ease and 
do no works!" Not so, my dear sir, not so. It would 
indeed be so, if you were wholly an inward man and 
had become altogether spiritual and inward, which 
will not come to pass until the last day. Everything 
on earth is and remains but a beginning and a growth, 
that must be completed in yonder life .... Here is, 
therefore, the place for the second of our propositions: 
A Christian man is a most dutiful servant and subject 
to everyone. That is to say, so far as he is free, he 
need do nothing; but so far as he is a servant, he must 
do many things. Let us see what that means. 

20. Although, inwardly and so far as his soul is 
concerned, a man is perfectly justified by faith and has 
everything that he needs, save that this faith and 
sufficiency of his must constantly grow and increase 
unto the life to come ; yet he remains still in this bodily 
life here on earth, and must needs rule his own body 
and also consort with other men. Here is where the 
works come in. Here he dare not be idle; here of a 
truth the body must needs be driven and trained with 
fasting, watching, working, and every sort of discipline 
within reasonable bounds, so that it may become obed- 
ient and conform to the inward man and to faith, and 
not rebel nor prove a hindrance, as is its nature to do. 



46 LUTHER PRIMER 

The inward man is one with God, blithe and joyful 
for Christ's sake, who has done such great things 
for him; all his pleasure consists in striv- 
ing to serve God again in willing love. But 
he discovers a contrary will in his flesh, .1 
will that would serve the world and seek its own good 
pleasure. This thing faith cannot tolerate, and so it 
falls joyously upon the flesh to put it under and hold 
it in check; as St. Paul says: "I delight in the law 
of God after the inward man ; but I see another law 
in my members, warring against the law of my mind, 
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin" (Rom. 

7:23). 

23. These two sayings, therefore, are true: (1) 
Good works do not make a good man, but a 
good man does good works; (2) evil works do not 
make a wicked man, but a wicked man does 
evil works. So that it is always necessary that 
the person himself be good before there can be any 
good works, and that good works follow and pro- 
ceed from a good person; as Christ says: "A good 
tree can not bring forth evil fruit, neither can a cor- 
rupt tree bring forth good fruit" (Matt. 7:18). 

It is clear that the fruits do not bear the tree, nor 
does the tree grow on the fruits; but the tree bears 
the fruits and the fruits grow on the tree. The trees, 
therefore, must exist before the fruits, and the fruits 
do not make the trees either good or corrupt, but as 
the trees are, so are the fruits they bear. Even so the 
person of man must first be good or wicked before he 



THE LIBERTY OF A CHRISTIAN MAN 47 

can perform a good or a wicked work, and his works 
do not make him either good or wicked, but he him- 
self makes his works either good or wicked. Illustra- 
tions of this truth abound in every trade. A good or 
a bad house does not make a good or a bad builder, but 
a good or a bad builder makes a good or a bad house. 
In short, the work never makes the workman like it- 
self, but the workman makes the work like himself. 

Since, then, works justify no one, and a man must 
be righteous before he can do a good work, it is very 
evident that it is faith alone which, on account of the 
pure mercy of God through Christ in His Word, 
worthily and sufficiently justifies and saves the person; 
and a Christian man has no need of any work or law 
in order to be saved, for he is freed through faith from 
every law and does all that he does freely and out of 
pure liberty, seeking thereby neither benefit nor salva- 
tion, since he already abounds in all things and is saved 
through the grace of God because of his faith, and now 
seeks only to please God. 

25. From all this we can readily see in what sense 
good works are to be rejected and in what sense they 
are not to be rejected, and by what standard all the 
teachings of men about good works are to be judged. 
If works are sought after as a means of attaining 
righteousness and are done under the false impression 
that we are justified by them, they are no longer good 
but truly damnable works. For they are not free, and 
they blaspheme the grace of God, which alone can 
justify and save by faith. We do not reject good 



48 LUTHER PRIMER 

works; on the contrary, we foster and teach them with 
all our might. 

26. Let this suffice for works in general, and for 
those works in particular which a Christian man should 
perform with respect to his own body. Let us 
come now to the works which he performs 
with respect to other men. For man does 
not live unto himself alone in his own body, but he 
lives also in the midst of his fellowmen upon earth 
(Rom. 14:7 f.). Therefore it is impossible that he 
should ever be without works toward his fellowmen. 
For he must of necessity speak to them and have deal- 
ings with them, although he needs none of these things 
for his own righteousness and salvation. In all his 
w r orks, therefore, he should be guided by this thought, 
and look to this one thing — to serve and benefit others 

by all that he does, in willing love That is a 

right Christian life ; there faith sets to work gladly and 
in love. 

27. Although the Christian is set at liberty from 
all works, he ought in this liberty to empty himself, 
take upon him the form of a servant, be made in the 
likeness of men and formed in fashion as a man, and 
serve, help, and in every way deal with, his neighbor 
as he sees that God through Christ has dealt and is 
still dealing with himself [Phil. 2:7, 8]. And this he 
ought to do freely, having regard only to the approval 
of God. He should think thus: "Though I am an 
unworthy and condemned man, my God has given me 
in Christ all the riches of righteousness and salvation, 



THE LIBERTY OF A CHRISTIAN MAN 49 

without any merit of mine, out of pure and free mercy, 
so that henceforth I have need of nothing at all save 
faith which believes that this is so. Why should not 
I, then, freely and gladly, with all my heart and with 
an eager will, do whatever I know is pleasing and ac- 
ceptable to such a Father who has showered upon me 
His unsearchable riches? I will therefore give myself 
as a Christ to my neighbor, even as Christ offered Him- 
self to me ; I will do nothing in this life except what 
I see to be necessary, profitable and salutary to my 
neighbor, since through faith I myself have an abun- 
dance of all good things in Christ." 

Thus, from faith flow forth love and joy in the 
Lord, and from love a joyous, willing and free mind 
that gladly serves one's neighbor, taking no account of 
gratitude or ingratitude, praise or blame, gain or loss 

Just as our neighbor suffers want and stands 

in need of that which we have in abundance, so we, 
too, were in want before God and in need of His grace. 
And just as God helped us freely through Christ, so 
we should seek only to help our neighbor freely through 
our body and its works, and each one become as it were 
a Christ to the other, so that we may all be Christs 
to one another, and that Christ may be the same in 
all, that is to say, that we may be Christians indeed. 

30. We conclude, then, that a Christian man 
lives not in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor. 
He lives in Christ through faith, and in his neighbor 
through love. By faith he ascends up to God, whence 
he descends again to his neighbor by love, and yet re- 



SO LUTHER PRIMER 

mains ever in God and in divine love. . . . Here is 
the true, spiritual, Christian liberty, that sets the heart 
free from all sins, laws and precepts, and is as far 
above every other liberty as the heavens are above the 
earth. God grant us rightly to understand and hold 
fast to this liberty: Amen. 



VIII 

The Burning of the Papal Bull 

(December 10, 1520) 

[The bull Exsurge, Domine, of June 15, 1520, designated 
forty-one propositions in Luther's writings as heretical, 
commanded that his books be burned, and threatened him 
with excommunication unless he recanted within sixty days. 
Luther retaliated by publicly burning the bull together with 
the books of the canon law, before the Elster gate of Wit- 
tenberg, on December 10, in the presence of many pro- 
fessors and students of the University who had been sum- 
moned to this "edifying spectacle" in a Latin notice written 
by Melanchthon. Luther cast the bull into the flames with 
the words, "Because thou hast condemned the truth of God, 
He now condemns thee to this fire." 

The following letter, written a month later to his old 
friend and mentor John Staupitz, affords us a glimpse into 
Luther's heart during those heroic and humble days. It 
was Staupitz who, as vicar-general of the Augustinian or- 
der, had assisted Luther, in the monastery at Erfurt, in his 
struggle to find a gracious God, and who was responsible 
for his call to Wittenberg. Later, he shrank from the con- 
sequences of Luther's position, and was now living in re- 
tirement at Salzburg, where he died, as Benedictine abbot, 
December 28, 1524.] 



To John Staupitz at Salzburg 

Greetings in Christ, most reverend father! 

When we were together at Augsburg [in 15 18, dur- 
ing Luther's interview with Cardinal Cajetan], dis- 
cussing my cause, you said to me amongst other things, 
"Remember, brother, that you have undertaken this 
work in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.'' Those 
were not so much your words as the words of God 



52 LUTHER PRIMER 

speaking through you, and as such I have kept them 
in my heart ever since. 

I now give you back your words and say, "Do you, 
too, remember what you then told me/' What we 
have had thus far was mere child's play, now comes 
the bitter reality ; and, according to your words, unless 
God carries the work through, it will never be carried 
through. For everyone can see that the whole matter 
Is now in God's hand ; no one can deny it. Who else 
could help? Of what avail are human plans? The 
battle is on, and so high does the feeling run on both 
sides it seems there will be no quieting it until the 
Last Day. 

The papacy is no longer what it was yesterday or 
the day before. Though they issue bulls of excom- 
munication and pile books on the flames, and though 
they put me to death, nevertheless there are portentous 
events before the door. How much better if the pope 
had sought by good means to effect a peaceable adjust- 
ment rather than by brutal force to bring about Lu- 
ther's destruction. When I burned the pope's books 
and bull, it was with trembling and with prayer. But 
now I am happier about it than about any other act 
of my whole life. For they are more pestilent than 
I dared believe. 

The Emperor's summons arrived in a letter to the 
Elector, but he would not let me go; so His Majesty 
immediately recalled the first letter by a second. God 
alone knows what will be the outcome. Everything 
is still flourishing here as before [he means at the 



THE BURNING OF THE PAPAL BULL 53 

University, which had gained in students since the bull- 
burning]. My books have been burned in three 
cities — Louvain, Cologne and Mayence, at the latter 
place amid great derision and danger. 

Farewell, beloved father ; pray for God's Word and 
for me. I am carried along on the flood and tossed 
to and fro. 

Martin Luther, 

Augustinian. 

Wittenberg, January 14, 1521. 



IX 
Luther at Worms 

(1521) 

[After the sixty days were more than up, Pope Leo X 
put Luther and his followers under the ban (January 3, 
1521) and summoned him to appear at the Diet of Worms 
to be dealt with as a heretic. Luther's elector, Frederick 
the Wise, the most powerful prince in Germany, insisted 
that his professor be justly dealt with, and armed with 
the imperial safe-conduct, Luther set out for Worms. His 
journey was one long ovation. Fears were felt for his 
safety, but he was fearless, as is seen from the letter to 
his dear friend Spalatin, the private secretary of the elec- 
tor (1). At the diet he uttered bis famous words (2), which 
mark the beginning of modern dines. To save him from 
the treachery of his foes, the elector had him spirited away 
on his return journey and concealed in his castle Wart- 
burg, overlooking Eisenach, where Luther lived incognito 
for ten months as Squire George (see chap. x). The mood in 
which he lent himself to this adventure is seen in the in- 
timate letter (3) to his good friend Lucas Cranach, the ar- 
tist of Wittenberg (comp. chap, x, introduction).] 



(1) Letter to Spalatin 
(April 14, 1521) 

Greeting. 

We are on the way, dear Spalatin, though Satan 
has been doing his worst to prevent me through ill- 
ness. All the way from Erfurt I have been very ill, 
and still am much weaker than I have ever felt be- 
fore. 

I realize, too, that the mandate of Charles was 
published in order to frighten me. But Christ lives, 
and I am going to enter Worms in defiance of all 



LUTHER AT WORMS 55 

the gates of hell and the powers of the air. [Comp. 
below, p. 74.] 

I am sending you copies of the imperial letter. It 
does not seem advisable to send any other writing; 
I prefer to wait until I am on the spot and see for 
myself what is to be done, lest we should puff up 
Satan with pride. I w^ould much rather fill him with 
fear and heap contempt upon him, as I have made up 
my mind to do. 

So have a lodging ready for us. 

Fare you well. 

Martin Luther, 

Frankfort, 1521. 



(2) Luther s answer before the Diet, 
"Without Horns and Teeth" 

(April 18, 1521) 

Since your Imperial Majesty and your Lordships 
demand a plain answer, I will give one without horns 
and also without teeth. + It is this. I trust in neither 
pope nor councils by themselves, since it is evident 
that they have often erred and reversed themselves. 
Unless, therefore, I am convinced by Scripture proofs 
or logical argument [i. e., either by direct proof from 
Scripture texts or by deductions logically drawn from 
such texts], I am bound by the scriptures I have cited 



fSee Reu: Thirty-five years of Luther Research, p. 66f. 
(Luth. Church Rev., February, 19*17). 



56 LUTHER PRIMER 

and my conscience is held captive in the Word of God. 
I can recant nothing, and I will recant nothing ; for it 
is a dangerous and a dishonest thing to act against 
conscience. 

This is my position. I can take no other. God help 
me! Amen.f 



(3) Letter to Lucas Cranach 
(April 28, 1521) 

To the most excellent Master Lucas Cranach, 
painter at Wittenberg. 

Dear gossip:}: Lucas, — 

I send you my blessing and commend you t« 
God. I am going to submit to being hidden away, 
where — I myself do not yet know. I should 
have preferred being put to death by the tyrants, 
especially by the furious Duke George of Saxony, but 
am obliged to yield to the advice of good men and bide 
my time. 

They [the Romanists] did not expect me to come t© 
Worms, and you all know how they kept faith with 



fThe authenticity of these last words rests on rather slen- 
der historical evidence. But, as Prof. Boehmer well says, 
"for the appreciation of Luther's attitude in Worms one 
neither gains nor loses by this omission. The important 
point is not that the Reformer specifically assured the as- 
sembly that he stood there and could not do otherwise, but 
that he actually did stand firm and could do no other." 
— Luther in Light of Recent Research, p. 38. 

tin the earlier sense of fellow-sponsor, or one's child's 
sponsor, at baptism. Luther writes Gevatter. 



LUTHER AT WORMS 57 

me as to the safe-conduct by demanding that my writ- 
ings should be delivered up. 

I imagined His Imperial Majesty would have 
brought together from one to fifty doctors to vanquish 
the monk in proper fashion, but all that took place 
was this: — "Are those books yours?" — "Yes." — "Will 
you retract them or no?'' — "No." — "Then begone!" — 
O we blind Germans! what children we are, to let 
the Romanists make such wretched apes and fools of 
us. 

Greet your dear spouse from me and say I hope she 
is well. 

It seems the Jews must sing their "Io! IoP [His 
enemies must triumph, as did the Jews on Good Fri- 
day]. Yet our Easterday will come, too, when we 
shall sing "Hallelujah !" But first we must keep silent 
and suffer for a little. "A little while," says Christ, 
"and ye shall not see me; and again a little while, 
and ye shall see me" [John 16:16]. I hope it will 
be so even now. But God's will is best; may 
it be done in this matter, on earth as it is in heaven: 
Amen. 

Give my regards to Master Christian [Doring, or 
Aurifaber, a worker in Cranach's studio, who had 
provided horse and wagon for Luther's journey to 
Worms, the city-council defraying the expense] and 
his good wife, and extend my thanks to the Town- 
council for the conveyance. If Licentiate Feldkirch 
does not suit, get Amsdorf to preach; he'll be glad to 
do it. 



58 LUTHER PRIMER 

Farewell, all. I commend you to God. May He 
keep your reason and your faith in Christ from the 
Romish wolves and dragons with their rabble : Amen. 

Dr. Martin Luther. 

Frankfort-on-the-Main, Cantate Sunday, 1521. 



X 

Prologue to the German New Testament 

(1522) 

[Although Luther did many notable things at the Wart- 
burg — he worked on his Church Postil (a collection of ser- 
mons on the gospels and epistles of the Church Year), he 
completed his fine devotional Exposition of the Magnificat, 
he wrote the important Latin treatise On Monastic Vows, 
besides carrying on a voluminous correspondence with 
friend and foe — yet the finest fruit of the Wartburg so- 
journ was his translation of the New Testament into Ger- 
man. There were a number of German translations in 
circulation at the time; but they were all based on the Latin 
Vulgate, they were very faulty and inaccurate, and they 
employed a most unwieldy German. Luther based his 
translation on the best Greek text of his day (the second 
edition of Erasmus, 15 19), and with the joy of a discov- 
erer and the genius of a master of language, turned it into 
a German truly of the people, by the people and for the 
people. Thus his Bible translation has become one of the 
classics of German literature. 

He began his work in December, 1521, — "in the quiet of 
those winter days, when the snow spread its mantle over 
the Wartburg woods, and the outside world was buried in 
deep silence.'' In the incredibly short space of three months 
the task was completed. "With the first breath of Spring, 
when the winds of March sang around the castle, and 
voices were waking again in the 'kingdom of the birds/ 
Doctor Luther returned to Wittenberg, carrying with him 
the completed New Testament. The Swiss students whom 
he met on the return journey at the Black Bear Inn of 
Jena said that his eyes glowed and sparkled like stars, 
and that they could scarcely meet his gaze. So the eyes of 
Moses must have burned when he came down from the 
mount." 

During the spring and summer the work was thoroughly 
gone over and revised with the assistance of Melanchthon 
and other learned friends, and in September, 1522, The 
New Testament in German left the presses at Witten- 
berg, in an edition of 3,000 copies which was sold out in 
less than three months. The title page contained no names 



60 LUTHER PRIMER 

of translator or publisher. There was a general prologue 
besides prologues to the various books, also annotations and 
parallel passages, and woodcut illustrations by the Witten- 
berg artist Cranach (see chap, ix, 3). The chapters were 
not divided into verses, and the passage 1 John 5:7 was 
not included. — Comp. A. Risch: Die deutsche Bibel.j 



It would indeed be fitting and proper that this Book 
should appear without a prologue and with no 
stranger's name upon it, bearing only its own name and 
speaking for itself. But since the minds of Chris- 
tian people have become so confused by many wild 
commentaries and prefaces that they no longer know 
the difference between law and Gospel, or Old and 
New Testament, it has become necessary to prepare a 
prologue and guide, in order that the plain reader may 
be brought back from his error into the right way and 
instructed what to look for in this book, lest he seek 
God's law and command where he ought to find His 
Gospel and promise. 

fThe olde testament is a boke, where in is'wrytten 
the lawe and commaundmentes of god, and the dedes 
of them which fulfill them, and of them also which 
fulfill them nott. 



fHere follows a part of Tyndale's prologue to his Eng- 
lish translation of the New Testament (first edition, 1525), 
which is a literal translation of Luther's, and is given here 
to show the dependence of Tyndale on Luther. It is printed 
here in the old spelling and is taken from Pollard's Rec- 
ords of the English Bible (1911). Tyndale's translation, 
which was made in Germany, was largely indebted to Lu- 
ther's and Prof. A. S. Cook of Yale says, "It is agreed 
on all hands that the English of the Authorized Version 
is in essentials, that of Tyndale" (The Authorized Version 
of the Bible and its Influence, 1910). 



PROLOGUE TO THE GERMAN NEW TESTAMENT 6 1 

The newe testament is a boke where in are coteyned 
the promyses of god, and the dedes of them which be- 
leue [believe] them or beleue them nott. 

Euangelion (that we cal the gospel) is a greke 
worde & signyfyth good, mery, glad and ioyfull tyd- 
inges, that maketh a mannes hert [heart] glad, and 
maketh hym synge, daunce and leepe for ioye As when 
Davyd had kylled Golyath the geaunt, cam glad tyd- 
inges vnto the iewes, that their fearfull and cruell 
enemy was slayne, and they delyvered oute of all 
daunger: for gladnes were of, they songe, daunsed, 
and wer ioyfull. In lyke manner is the evangelion of 
god (which we call gospell, and the newe testament) 
ioyfull tydings, and as some saye: a good hearing pub- 
lisshed by the apostles through oute all the worlde, of 
Christ the right Davyd howe that he hathe fought 
with synne, with dethe, and the devill, and over cume 
them. Whereby all men that were in Bondage to 
synne, wounded with dethe, ouercum of the devill, are 
with oute there awne merrittes or deservings losed, ius- 
tyfyed, restored to lyfe, and saved, brought to libertie, 
and reconciled vnto the favour of god, and sett at one 
with hym agayne: which tydinges as many as beleve 
laude prayse and thancke god, are glad, synge and 
daunce for ioye. 

The evangelion or gospell (that is to saye, suche 
ioyfull tydinges) is called the newe testament. Because 
that as a man when he shall dye apoynteth his gooddes 
to be dealte and distributed after hys dethe amonge 
them which he nameth to be his heyres. Even so 



62 LUTHER PRIMER 

Christ before his dethe commaunded and appoynted 
that suche evangelion, gospell, or tydinges shulde be de 
clared through oute all the worlde, and there with 
to geue [give] vnto all that beleve all his gooddes, 
that is to saye, his lyfe, where with he swalowed and 
devoured vp dethe: his rightewesnes, where with he 
bannyshed synne: his salvacion, wherewith he overcam 
eternall damnacion. Nowe can the wretched man 
(that is wrapped in synne, and is in danger to dethe 
and hell) heare no moare ioyus a thynge, then suche 
glad and comfortable tydinges, of Christ. So that he 
cannot but be glad and laugh from the lowe bottom 
of his hert, if he beleve that the tydynges are trewe. 

See, therefore, that you make not Christ a Moses, 
nor His Gospel a book of laws or doctrines, as has 
been done hitherto. For the Gospel does not demand 
our works in order that we may become righteous and 
be saved ; nay, it condemns such works. What it does 
demand is faith in Christ, which believes that He has 
overcome sin, death and Satan for us, and thus be- 
stows on us righteousness, life and salvation, not 
through our works, but through His works, sufferings 
and death, so that we may claim His death and victory 
as our own. 

You will now be able to judge the differences among 
the books of the New Testament, and know which 
are the best books. John's gospel, Paul's epistles, es- 
pecially Romans, and the first epistle of Peter are the 
vvery heart and marrow of all the books ; these should in- 



PROLOGUE TO THE GERMAN NEW TESTAMENT 63 

deed stand first and be read first and most frequently 
by every Christian, and become as familiar to him 
through daily reading as his daily bread. 

The gospel of John is the one tender and true chief 
gospel, and much to be preferred to the other three. 
In the same manner, the epistles of Paul and the first 
epistle of Peter are to be preferred to the gospels of 
Matthew, Mark and Luke [because they do not make 
so much of the works of Christ but rather emphasize 
His teachings']. In short, John's gospel and his first 
epistle, the epistles of Paul, especially Romans, Gala- 
tians and Ephesians, and the first epistle of Peter — 
these are the books that reveal Christ to you, and 
teach all that you need to know in order to be saved 

Compared with them, the epistle of St. 

James is a right strawy epistle, for there is nothing 
of the Gospel in it. 

Romans is the chief portion of the New Testament, 
and the most pure Gospel; it well deserves that a 
Christian man not only learn by heart every word 
in it, but use it every day as the daily bread of his 
soul. It can never be read too often nor pondered 
too deeply, and becomes the more precious the oftener 
it is used. 

Faith is a work of God within us, that changes us 
and begets us again of God (John 1:13); it slays 
the old Adam in us, makes us wholly new men in our 
heart and mind and senses and all our strength, 
and brings with it the Holy Spirit. O faith is 
a living, busy, active, powerful thing; it is im- 



64 LUTHER PRIMER 

possible that it should not incessantly be doing good. 
Nor does it ask whether good works are to be done, 
but before the question can put, has done the works 

and is ever doing them Faith is a lively and 

bold confidence in God's grace. Whoever has it, is 
so sure of this grace that he would willingly die a thous- 
and deaths for it. Such sure confidence in God's 
grace fills a man with joy, boldness, and cheerfulness 
toward God and all creatures. Wherefore he be- 
comes willing and eager, without any compulsion, to 
do good to everyone, to serve all men, and to suffer 
all things, out of love and praise to God who has 
shown him such grace. It is therefore as impossible 
to separate works from faith as it is to separate light 
and heat. Pray God to work this faith in you ; other- 
wise you will remain forever without it despite all 
you do and think. 

It is the manner of a true apostle, to proclaim 
Christ's sufferings and resurrection, and to lay the 
foundation of faith in the same, as He says, "Ye shall 
testify of me." And all good sacred writings agree 
in this, that they one and all preach and testify of 
Christ. This is indeed the true touchstone where- 
by to judge all books, — whether or not they testify of 
Christ. Whatever does not proclaim Christ is not 
apostolic, even if St. Peter or St. Paul were to teach 
it. On the other hand, whatever does proclaim Christ 
would be apostolic if Judas, Annas, Pilate or Herod 
had written it. 



PROLOGUE TO THE GERMAN NEW TESTAMENT 65 

I cannot fit my spirit into the Revelation of St. 
John. Hence I confine myself to those books which 
clearly and purely set forth Christ to me. 



XI 

Prologue to the Psalter 

(1528) 

[The complete German Bible was not ready until 1532, 
and was published with the Apocrypha in 1534. The trans- 
lation of the Old Testament took much longer than that 
of the New, because there were more persons engaged on 
it, because of the greater length and difficulty of the Old 
Testament, and because of many interruptions. As each 
part was completed, it was given to the public; the Psalter 
in 1524. The prologue given below in condensed form, 
was written for the new edition of the Psalter, four years 
later. Even after the whole Bible was translated and pub- 
lished, Luther was constantly at work, with his company 
of assistants (the "Sanhedrin," as they were called), re- 
vising the translation. The last revised edition published 
during his life was the tenth edition of 1545. — Comp. J. P. 
Ifentz: The Lutheran Version of the Bible (but see be- 
low p. 161).] 



I reckon there was never upon earth a finer book of 
saints than the Psalter. Here we find the acts not 
only of one or two saints, but of the Head of all 
saints, and the acts of all saints of the present as well — 
what was their relation to God, and to friend and foe, 
and how they behaved themselves in dangers and 
trials. Besides this, there are so many and diverse 
salutary divine doctrines and precepts therein, that me- 
thinks in the Psalter the Holy Ghost was at pains to 
compose a miniature Bible and little book of all 
Christians or saints, so that if any one could not 
read the whole Bible through, he might have here a 
summary of the same compressed into a tiny volume. 



PROLOGUE TO THE PSALTER 67 

Moreover, while other books make a great ado 
about the acts of the saints but record very few of 
their sayings, it is not so with the Psalter. It is a 
model in this respect (and to him that reads in it be- 
comes therefore all sw^eet and fragrant), that it con- 
tains not only the acts of the saints, but also the 
words which they addressed to God and uttered in 
their prayers, and even now utter and pray. Indeed, 
compared w T ith the Psalter, the other saints'-legends 
seem to present to us none but mute saints, while 
the Psalter presents right wide-awake and living 
saints. 

Furthermore, the Psalter does not set forth the 
commonplace sayings of the saints, but their most 
notable sayings, spoken by them in deepest earnest, con- 
cerning the most vital matters, and addressed to God 

Himself Where can you find more admirable 

words of joy and gladness than in the psalms of 
praise and thanksgiving? In them you look into the 
hearts of all saints, as it w T ere into fair and pleasant 
gardens, nay into heaven itself, and see blooming 
therein, like brave and gallant flowers, all manner of 
fine and joyous thoughts toward God for His mani- 
fold goodness. Again, where will you find more 
deep and doleful w T ords of sorrow than in the 
penitential psalms? There you gaze into the hearts 
of all saints, as into death, yea into hell. What 
darkness and gloom is there, from the sorrow- 
ful contemplation of God's anger. And when they 
speak of fear or of hope, it is in such words that no 



68 LUTHER PRIMER 

artist could so well depict these emotions nor any 
Cicero so well describe them. 

And best of all, the saints address these words to 
God, which gives them twofold life and meaning. 
For, speaking to men in such matters, one is not so 
deeply moved nor does one's heart burn and glow 
with so great ardor. 

Finally, the Psalter is a safe and trustworthy guide 
to the right imitation of the saints. Other legends, 
with their tales of mute saints, set before us many a 
work that cannot be imitated, and many others whose 
imitation is fraught with much danger, engenders 
factions and strife, and disrupts the communion of 
saints. But the Psalter preserves from strife and 
faction and fosters the communion of saints, teach- 
ing us through joy and sorrow, through hope and fear, 
to be of one mind with all saints and to make their 
words our own. 

In short, if you would behold the holy Christian 
Church portrayed in miniature in living form and 
glowing colors, take up the Psalter: in it you have 
a bright and spotless mirror to show you what the 
Church is like. Nay, you will find in it a true gnothi 
seauton ["know^ thyself '], wherein to behold your- 
self, together with God and all creatures. 

To this may the Father of all grace and mercy help 
us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be praise, 
thanks and glory for this German Psalter, and for all 
His unsearchable and inexpressible goodness, world 
without end: Amen. 



XII 

On the Art of Translating 
(1530) 

[The following selections afford an interesting glimpse 
into the workshop of the translator of the German Bible. 
The treatise of which they iorm a part was written at Co- 
burg (comp. chap, xxiv, introduction) in September, 1530, 
in reply to an unknown correspondent, who requested Lu- 
ther to answer the following two questions — (1) Why he 
inserted the word "alone" in his translation of Romans 
3:28, and (2) whether the departed saints intercede for 
men on earth. The latter question does not concern us here, 
and the former only so far as it gave Luther an opportunity 
to discuss in a general way his principles as a translator. 
In the treatise itself he goes fully into the passage in 
Romans and into several others.] 



If I had been sure that all the papists put together 
could turn a single chapter of Holy Writ into correct 
German, I should with becoming modesty have cravtd 
their assistance in my translation of the New Testa- 
ment. But since I knew full well, and still see very 
clearly, that not one of them knows how to translate 
anything into German or to speak in German, I have 
spared them as well as myself the trouble. It is a 
well known fact that they are now learning from my 
translation to speak and write the German language. 
Thus they steal my language, of which they had little 
enough before; yet they give me no thanks for it, 
but rather use it to attack me. I do not begrudge it 
to them, for it pleases me greatly to think that I have 
taught even my ungrateful disciples and my foes how 
to speak German. 



70 LUTHER PRIMER 

I translated the New Testament as well as I was 
able. No one is compelled to read it on that account ; 
eve^one can do as he pleases. I made my translation 
solely for the benefit of those who are unable to make 
a better one. Nor is anyone forbidden to make a 
better translation of his own. Whoever will not read 
mine, let him leave it unreadi I will neither beg nor 
cajole anyone into reading it. It is my Testament and 
my translation, and it shall remain mine. If I have 
made mistakes in it (of which I am not aware, and 
truly I would not willingly mistranslate a single 
syllable), I will not permit the papists to sit in judg- 
ment on me. As yet, their ears are far too long and 
their braying too weak, to entitle them to criticize my 
work. I know how much ability, diligence, knowledge 
and understanding must go to the making of a good 
translator. They know less about it than the donkey 
at the mill, for they have never made the attempt. 

It was my earnest endeavor, in my translation, to 
use a pure and clear German. It happened more than 
once that we spent two, three and four weeks looking 
for the right word, and then we did not always find 
it. When we came to Job, — Magister Philip [Mel- 
anchthon], Aurogallus [professor of Hebrew at Wit- 
tenberg University] and I sometimes completed scarce- 
ly three lines in as many days. But now that the work 
is done, everyone can read it and play the critic. Now 
one can run through three or four pages without 
stumbling a single time. He does not know what 
great rocks and stumps lay in the way, over which he 



ON THE ART OF TRANSLATING 7 1 

now passes as over a smooth floor, but to remove which 
we had to toil in the sweat of our face, that men might 
find the road so smooth. It is easy ploughing when the 
ground has been cleared. But no one likes to fell the 
trees, dig out the stumps, and prepare the soil. There 
is no getting any thanks from the world. God Him- 
self wins no thanks for His sun, nor for heaven and 
earth, nor even for the death of His only-begotten 
Son. Let the world be and remain the world, in the 
devil's name ; that is its whole desire. 

I can testify with a good conscience that I have put 
my best effort and utmost faithfulness on my task, and 
had no improper motive. I never received nor asked 
so much as a heller for my work. God knows, I did 
not seek my own honor, but did the work for the 
good of the dear Christians and to the glory of One 
who sits above. He sends down upon me every hour 
so many blessings, that if I had translated a thousand 
times as much as I did and a thousand times more 
faithfully, I should not have earned thereby a single 
hour of life or a sound eye. All that I am and have 
is altogether of His grace and mercy; nay, it is of His 
precious blood and sweat of agony. And for this 
reason it shall be, please God, altogether to His 
glory, right joyously and heartily. Let the scribblers 
and papal donkeys scold me all they will ; good Chris- 
tians with their Lord Christ will praise me. I am more 
than repaid if but a single Christian finds me to have 
been a faithful workman. 



7^ LUTHER PRIMER 

We must not ask the letters of the Latin language 
to tell us how to speak German, as those donkeys [the 
Romish writers] do. We must go for this rather to the 
mother in the house, the children in the lane, the com- 
mon man in the market place, and watch their mouths, 
and use in our translation the language that they speak. 
Then they will understand what w r e mean, and know 
that we are speaking to them in German. 

Yet, on the other hand, I have not dealt too freely 
with the letter of Scripture, but with my assistants gave 
especial care to translate literally in every case where 
a particular meaning attached to a certain expression. 
In some places I preferred to run counter to the Ger- 
man idiom, rather than depart from the letter of the 
original. 

Ah, not every one is cut out for this work of trans- 
lating, as the mad saints imagine. For this skill it 
needs a heart that is right pious, faithful, diligent, 
reverent, Christian, learned and experienced. I hold, 
therefore, that no false Christian or fanatic is able to 
become a good translator. 



XIII 

A Princely Letter to a Prince 

(March 5, 1522) 

[After his involuntary exile of some ten months, Luther 
felt that his presence was needed in Wittenberg, and on 
March i, 1522, he left the seclusion of the Wartburg, against 
his Elector's wish. On the way home he penned this cour- 
ageous and God-fearing epistle. It is the most famous of 
all his letters.] 



To the High-born Prince Frederick, Elector of 
Saxony, etc. Grace and peace from God the Father 
and from our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Most gracious lord : — Your Electoral Grace's letter 
and gracious instructions reached me on Friday, the 
evening before the day I had set for my departure. 
That your Electoral Highness has the best inten- 
tions toward me, goes without saying 

Your Grace knows (or if you do not, I herewith in- 
form you of the fact) that I have not received the Gos- 
pel from men, but from heaven, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ, so that I might well boast and call my- 
self a minister and evangelist, as I shall henceforth do. 
My offering myself for trial and sentence [at Worms], 
was not due to any doubts I had as to this Gospel, but 
because I wished by my exceeding humility to induce 
my opponents to meet me half way. But now that I 
see my too great humility serves but to abase the Gos- 
pel, and that Satan is ready to crowd into the place 



74 LUTHER PRIMER 

I vacate even by only a hand's breadth, my conscience 
compels me to take a different course. 

I have satisfied your Grace by remaining this year 
in my forced seclusion. For the devil knows it was 
not done out of cowardice. He looked into my heart, 
when I entered Worms, and saw that although I had 
known there were as many devils ready to fall upon 
me as there were tiles on the house-tops, I should joy- 
fully have sprung into their midst [comp. p. 55]. 
Now Duke George [through whose territory Luther 
must needs pass on his way to Wittenberg] is far from 
being equal to a single devil. And forasmuch as the 
Father of all mercies has made us, through the Gospel, 
joyous lords over all devils and death itself, and per- 
mitted us to call Him with all confidence our dearly 
beloved Father, your Grace can see for yourself that 
it would be the grossest insult one could offer such 
a Father not to trust Him enough to believe that we 
are lords also over Duke George's wrath. Were 
things in Leipzig [Duke George's capital] as they 
are in Wittenberg, I would nevertheless ride in, even 
though — will your Grace pardon my foolish words? 
— even though it rained Duke Georges for nine days 
running, and each one was nine times more furious 
than this one. He looks upon my Lord Jesus as a 
man of straw; but this my Lord and I can well en- 
dure for a little. I will confess to your Grace that I 
have, not once but many times, wept and prayed for 
Duke George that God would enlighten him. I shall 



A PRINCELY LETTER TO A PRINCE 75 

once more weep and pray for him, and then never 
again. 

I write all this to let your Grace know that I am 
coming to Wittenberg under far higher protection than 
that of an Elector. Nor have I the least intention 
of asking your Electoral Grace's protection. Nay, I 
consider I am better able to protect your Grace than 
your Grace is to protect me. And what is more, if 
I knew that your gracious Highness could and would 
protect me, I would not come. In this matter no 
sword can nor shall help; God alone must manage 
without any human intervention. Therefore, he 
whose faith is greatest can here grant the most pro- 
tection. And, as I feel that your Grace's faith is still 
very weak., I cannot regard you as the man who can 
protect or save me. 

Seeing your Grace desires to know what to do in this 
emergency, as you seem to feel you have done too 
little, I answer most humbly that your Grace has al- 
ready done altogether too much and ought to do noth- 
ing at all. For God can brook neither your High- 
ness' care and counsel nor mine. He would have the 
whole matter left to Him, and to none other. So let 
your Grace act accordingly. 

If your Grace believes this, then you will be in 
security and peace; if you do not believe it, I do, 
and I must needs leave your Electoral Grace to be 
tormented by anxiety, which is the portion of all who do 
not believe. 



J 6 LUTHER PRIMER 

Since, then, I decline to follow your Grace's orders, 
you are innocent in God's sight if I am taken prisoner 
or killed. In the eyes of the world, your Highness 
should henceforth act as follows. As Elector you 
should be obedient to the powers that be, and 
acknowledge the authority of His Imperial Majesty 
in your lands and cities, as is only right and proper 
according to the constitution of the Empire, and not 
hinder nor oppose the authorities in the event of their 
imprisoning or slaying me. For no one should oppose 
the authorities but He who has instituted them; that 
would be rebellion against God.f 

But I hope they will be reasonable, and remember 
that your Electoral Highness was born in too noble a 
cradle to be expected to play constable to the likes of 
me. If they come for me themselves, and your Grace 
admits them and abides by the Electoral safe-conduct, 
you will have done your full duty. But should they 
be so unreasonable as to command your Grace to lay 
hands on me yourself, I will tell you what to do: — 
You may believe it or not, but in that case I shall 
protect your Electoral Grace from injury to body, 
soul and estate, so far as my cause is concerned. [He 
means doubtless that he would then give himself up.] 

Herewith I commend your Grace to God's grace. 
We shall presently have more to say to each other, 
when the necessity arises. I have written these lines 



tThis position helps us to understand Luther's attitude 
in the Peasants' revolt; see below, p. m, and comp. chap. 
xv. 



A PRINCELY LETTER TO A PRINCE 77 

in great haste, in order that your Grace may not be 
embarrassed when my return is noised abroad ; for if 
I wish to be a true Christian, I must needs bring 
comfort rather than injury upon my fellowmen. 

I have to do with a very different sort of person 
from Duke George, — one who knows me well, and 
with whom I am not unacquainted. f If your Grace 
only believed, you would see the glory of God [John 
1 1 140] ; but as you do not yet believe, you have seen 
nothing. 

To God be love and laud to all eternity: Amen. 

Given at Borna, in the house of my escort, Ash. 
Wednesday [March 5], 1522. i 

Your Electoral Grace's humble servant, 

Martin Luther. 



fHe means the devil. — In the last of the famous Witten- 
berg sermons (see chap, xiv) he says in a similar vein: 
"I have eaten salt with him once or twice. I know him 
well, and he knows me well, too." 



XIV 

A Week of Wonderful Sermons 

(1522) 

[On his arrival in Wittenberg Luther found the city in 
an uproar; "Satan had broken into his sheepfold." Carl- 
stadt, a professor at the University, together with other im- 
patient and fanatical spirits, had proceeded to apply Lu- 
ther's reformatory principles in a revolutionary spirit, con- 
fusing non-essentials with essentials, turning the Gospel into 
a law, disregarding weak consciences, and employing force. 
The mass was abolished, monks were driven out of the 
monasteries, a number of priests took wives, images were 
destroyed, and communion in both kinds was introduced. 
The aid of the civil authorities was invoked, and various 
riots resulted. Melanchthon, Luther's vacillating friend 
(comp. chap, xxiv, 3), was powerless to stem the tide. The 
Elector, wavering at first and at his wits' end, finally stif- 
fened his back and ordered the former Catholic practice re- 
stored. The City-council, in despair, sent for Luther who 
alone could bring order out of chaos. And Luther was only 
too glad to come. 

Three days after his return, on Invocavit Sunday, March 
9, he mounted the pulpit of the City-church and preached 
for eight days in succession what must have been one of 
the most remarkable series of sermons in the history of 
preaching. As a result, the revolution was put down, the 
people came to their senses, and the fanatics were ex- 
pelled. It is one of the most notable instances of the power 
of the spoken word. There follow a few extracts, from 
the notes of one of the hearers. Although we miss the liv- 
ing voice and personal presence of the preacher, they furn- 
ish a fair specimen of Luther's sermon method. — See Works 
of Martin Luther, vol. ii, pp. 387-425.] 



[0/ the Word of God as over against human force] 

By the Word of God were the heavens made, the 
earth and all that is therein. This Word must ac- 



A WEEK OF WONDERFUL SERMONS 7<) 

complish every reform, and not we poor sinners. 
In short, I will preach the Word, speak the Word, 
write the Word ; but I will use force upon no man ; 
for faith must come freely and without compulsion. 
Take my own case in illustration. I opposed indul- 
gences and all the papists, but never with force. I 
merely taught, preached and wrote God's Word; that 
is all I did. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg 
Deer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word 
so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or em- 
peror ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did noth- 
ing; the Word did everything. If I had had the mind 
to resort to force, I could have brought great blood- 
shed upon Germany. At Worms I could have 
played such a game as would have made the emperor 
tremble for his safety.f But what would it have 
come to? Mere fooPs-play. I sat still, and left all 
to the Word. 

Pray, what do you suppose are Satan's thoughts 
when men try to achieve their purpose by force and 
violence? He leans comfortably back in hell, and 
"Oh," says he, 'Vhat a fine piece of business the fools 
are up to now." But when we use the Word alone 
and let it work, that distresses him. For the Word is 
almighty ; it takes captive the heart, and when that is 
taken, all must come right of itself. We must not 
drag men out nor draw them in, by the hairs ; no one 
can be driven to heaven with blows. 

fHe means he could have made common cause with Hut- 
ten and his band of knights who, during the Diet, hung 
like a threatening thunder cloud over the city of Worms. 



go LUTHER PRIMER 

[Of Images] 

We have seen that images ought to be abolished 
when they are worshiped; otherwise not, — although, 
because of the abuses they give rise to, I wish they were 
everywhere abolished. For whoever places an image 
in a church imagines he has performed a service unto 
God and wrought a good work, — which is downright 
idolatry. But this, the principal reason for abolishing 
images, you have passed by, and fastened on the least 
important reason of all. For there is scarcely anyone 
who does not understand that yonder crucifix is not his 
God; his God is in heaven, but that image serves 
merely as a sign or symbol. But the world is full of 
that other abuse; for who would place a silver or 
wooden image in a church unless he thought that by 
so doing he was rendering God a service? Yet even 
that is not a sufficient reason for abolishing, burning 
and destroying all images. For we have to admit 
that there are still some people who hold to no such 
wrong opinion, though they are precious few. There- 
fore, we cannot and ought not to condemn a thing 
that ministers to the devotions of anyone. 

You should rather have taught that images are 
nothing, that God cares naught for them, that He is 
not pleased when we make an image for Him, and 
that we should do better to give a poor man a gold- 
piece than God a gold image ; for He has forbidden the 
latter but not the former. If men had heard this sort 
of teaching, that images count for nothing, they would 



A WEEK OF WONDERFUL SERMONS 8 1 

have ceased of their own accord, and the images would 
have fallen without uproar or tumult, as they are al- 
ready beginning to do. 

[Of the Sacrament] 

Although I hold it necessary that the sacrament be 
received in both kinds [see above, p. 32], according 
to our Lord's institution, nevertheless this must not 
be made compulsory or a general law. We must make 
use of the Word, teach it and preach it. For the re- 
sult we must look entirely to the Word, and let 
every one have his free choice in the matter. When 
that is not done, the sacrament becomes an external 
observance and sheer hypocrisy, which is the very 
thing the devil wants. But w T hen the Word is given 
free course and is not bound to any external obser- 
vance, it lays hold to-day on this one, and sinks into 
his heart, to-morrow on another, and so it goes on, 
taking captive the hearts of men. Thus quietly and 
soberly it does its work, and no one will know how 
it has all come about. 

I was glad to learn there were some in this city who 
had begun to receive the sacrament in both kinds 
[see above, p. 32]. You should have allowed it to re- 
main thus, and not have forced it into a law. But now 
you rush on pell-mell and force every one to receive 
it your way. Dear friends, you will never succeed in 
this manner, and if you will heed me you must give it 
up. If you do not heed me, no one need drive me 



82 LUTHER PRIMER 

away from here ; I shall leave you unbidden, and regret 
that I ever preached so much as one sermon in this 
place. The other things could be passed by, but this 
cannot be passed by. I tell you that none of my ene- 
mies who have opposed me up to this time, have brought 
so much grief upon me as you, my friends. 



XV 

The Powers That Be 

(1523) 

[This little writing (its full title is Secular Government, 
— To what Extent it is to be Obeyed) which is given here 
in a greatly condensed paraphrase, is an important dis- 
cussion of the principles of government from the Chris- 
tian point of view, and a declaration of the freedom of 
conscience. "It is the first ethical defence of government 
over against the current Roman Catholic conception which 
traced all authority to the Church. It gave the world a 
new theory of the State, separated the State from the 
Church, and made the function of the State the service of 
its people.'' — J. J. Schindel in Works of Martin Luther, 
vol. iii. See also L. H. Waring: The Political Theories 
of Martin Luther. ~\ 



[i. Secular Government is Divine'] 

Secular law and the temporal sword are firmly es- 
tablished by Scripture and are in the world by God's 
will and appointment (Rom. 13:1 ff. ; 1 Pet. 2:13; 
Gen. 9:6; Ex. 21:14, 23 ff. ; Matt. 26:52; Luke 
3:14). God has ordained two kingdoms or govern- 
ments — the spiritual, in which, by the Holy Spirit, 
men are made Christians and righteous, under the rule 
of Christ; and the secular, in which wicked and un- 
christian men are restrained and compelled to keep the 
peace, outwardly and against their will. These two 
kingdoms must be sharply distinguished, and both must 
be permitted to remain — the one to produce piety, the 
other to preserve outward peace and prevent evildoing. 
Neither is sufficient in the world without the other. 



84 LUTHER PRIMER 

Though Christians are not under the law of the 
sword so far as they themselves are concerned, never- 
theless they obey the same or administer it, out of love 
and for the sake of their neighbors. The Christian 
serves the State just as he performs all other works 
of love, of w T hich he has no need in himself [comp. 
above, p. 48f.]. If you ask whether beadles, hangmen, 
jurists, advocates, and other officers of the law r can 
also be Christians and in a saved state, I reply that, 
if the State and its sw^ord are a divine service, as was 
shown above, then all that the State needs in order to 
wield the sword must likewise be a divine service. 

[2. The Extent of Secular Government] 

The State should not intrude where it has no au- 
thority. Its function is to prevent evildoing and main- 
tain outward peace, but not to make men righteous. 
This can be done by God alone through the reign of 
Christ in men's souls. The rule of the secular govern- 
ment with its laws extends only over men's bodies and 
possessions and whatever is external and temporal. 
But the souls of men God permits no one to rule but 
Himself alone. No one can be brought to faith by 
force; for faith is a free work, or rather, it is a work 
of the Holy Spirit. Any attempt to force men to be- 
lieve will produce only hypocrisy and lying. 

When commanded by the authorities to deliver up 
their [German] Testaments [to be burned], believers 
should refuse to give up a single page of them to the 
tyrants, lest they be delivering Christ to Herod. But if 



THE POWERS THAT BE 85 

the books are taken from them by force, and their 
property and goods with them, Christians should suffer 
it in patience. Blessed are they if men persecute them 
for the sake of the Gospel. But the foolish tyrants 
God Himself will judge. 

Not too much must be expected of rulers and prin- 
ces. We know that, from the beginning of the world, 
a w^ise prince has been a rare bird, and a righteous 
prince a rarer still. They are usually the most arrant 
fools or the most consummate knaves on earth. If a 
prince turn out wise and righteous and Christian, it 
is one of the wonders of the w r orld and a signal mark 
of God's grace upon* his land.f 

With heresy and heretics the secular government has 
nothing to do. That is the business of bishops, not of 
princes. Heresy can never be stamped out by force ; 
it must be dealt with in a different manner. It must 
be opposed not with the sword, but w T ith God's Word. 
If that does not put it down it will never be put dow n 
by the secular authorities, though they drown the world 
in blood. For heresy is a spiritual thing, w T hich no 
iron can pierce, no fire burn, no w r ater drown. If you 
would drive out heresy you must seek first of all to 
pluck it out of the heart. Force cannot do this;- all 
it can accomplish is to strengthen and confirm the 
heresy. But God's Word enlightens the heart, and 
then errors and heresies vanish of themselves. 



tTo get the full, amazing force of this, note that this 
treatise was dedicated to a prince, — Duke John of Saxony, 
the brother of Luther's Elector. 



86 LUTHER PRIMER 

[3. The Christian Ruler~\f 

If anyone desires to be a Christian prince or ruler, 
let him diligently look to his duty toward God, to- 
ward his subjects, toward his councillors, and toward 
evildoers. His duty toward God consists in relying 
upon Him with firm confidence, and in praying to Him 
without ceasing for wisdom and understanding to rule 
his people well. His duty toward his subjects con- 
sists in love and all Christian service. As to his coun- 
cillors, he should neither despise them nor trust them 
implicitly. And toward all evildoers he should ex- 
ercise severity tempered with justice. 

Rulers are justified in going to war, provided their 
purpose is not a selfish one, but the protection and de- 
fence of their people, and even then only after hav- 
ing first offered terms of peace to the foe. When an 
injury cannot be punished without inflicting still 
greater injury, let the ruler waive his rights, how- 
ever just. He must not regard the insult or injury 
done to him so much as the injury others [viz., his own 
people] will have to suffer in consequence of the punish- 
ment he exacts. What have the poor women and chil- 
dren done that they should suffer so cruelly and be 
made widows and orphans, only that you may avenge 
yourself on an idle tongue or a wicked hand that has 
injured or insulted you?:j: 

fThis section forms a striking contrast to Machiavelli's 
Prince, which appeared just ten years later. 

:j:Luther deals with the whole question of war and the 
Christian attitude to war, in a little treatise written in 1526, 
after the Peasants' Revolt — Ob Kriegsleute auch in seligem 
Stande sein konnen — which is well worthy of careful study. 



XVI 

The Right of a Christian Congregation to 
Call Its Own Pastor 

(1523) 

[The mediaeval church service was a gorgeous pageant 
in which man elaborately served God ; for Luther the service 
had no meaning apart from the Word of God. ''Where 
the Word of God is," he said, "there is God's house where- 
in He dwells; and where God dwells, there is His Word; 
and it is God's house not because of the service we ren- 
der unto God nor any works that we imagine we are per- 
forming for Him, but solely because the Word of God is 
there, by which God serves us in His house." The first 
thing necessary, therefore, was that the congregation should 
have preachers to administer this Word. The following ex- 
tracts from a little writing composed for a nearby com- 
munity, show how a congregation can have such preachers. 
— See Works of Martin Luther, vol. iv.] 



The certain mark of a Christian congregation is the 
preaching of the Gospel in its purity. — In this matter 
not the least regard is to be paid to human law, right, 
precedent, usage or custom, it matters not whether it 
be established by pope or emperor, by princes or bishops, 
whether it be observed by half the world or all the 
world, whether it be in existence one year or a thous- 
and years. For the soul of man is eternal, and above 
everything that is temporal. — We conclude, therefore, 
that w T here there is a Christian congregation, having 
the Gospel, this congregation has not only the right and 
power but also the duty, according to the troth it 
plighted Christ in baptism, and under pain of for- 
feiting its salvation, to avoid and flee, to put down 



$8 LUTHER PRIMER 

and withdraw itself from, the authority which the 
bishops, abbots, monasteries, foundations, etc., wield 
to-day, since it is evident that their teaching and rule 
are contrary to God and His Word. 

But, secondly, since a Christian congregation can- 
not exist without the Word of God, it follows that it 
must have teachers or preachers to administer this 
Word. And forasmuch as, in these last accursed 
times [Luther believed, like the apostles before him, 
that the end of the world was near], the bishops and 
false spiritual rulers neither are nor desire to be such 
teachers, and will neither give us nor suffer us to 
have such teachers, and forasmuch as we ought not to 
expect God to send us down teachers from heaven: 
therefore we must do as the Scriptures say, and call 
and ordain, from among ourselves, men who are found 
fit for this work and whom God has enlightened with 
understanding and endowed with the necessary gifts. 

Every Christian has both the right and the duty to 
teach and preach God's Word. Now you will say: 
"But unless he be called, he dare not preach, as you 
have repeatedly maintained. " [Comp. above, p. 200] I 
answer that it depends upon what sort of people he 
finds himself among. If he is where there are no Chris- 
tians, he needs no other call than the fact that he is a 
Christian, inwardly called and anointed by God. He 
is in duty bound, by the law of Christian love, to 
preach the Gospel to such erring heathen or non-Chris- 
tians, even though no man call him to do so. But 
when he is among Christians, all of whom have the 



RIGHT OF CONGREGATION TO CALL ITS OWN PASTOR 89 

same right and power as himself, he ought not to thrust 
himself forward, but wait until he is called to preach 
in the stead and by the commission of the rest. Never- 
theless, even among Christians, he has the right to arise 
and teach without being called by men, in case he finds 
the local preacher to be in error, provided always that 
this be done decently and in order. If St. Paul in I 
Corinthians 14:30 prescribes that among Christians, 
whenever it be necessary, any one should arise to speak, 
even without a call, how much rather will it be right 
for an entire congregation to call a man to this office, 
whenever it is necessary, as it is indeed always neces- 
sary, and never more so than now. 

To whomever this office of preaching is committed, 
to him is committed the highest office in the Christian 
Church. He may then also baptise, say mass, and 
perform all pastoral acts. Or, if he prefer, he may 
confine himself to preaching, and leave baptising and 
other subordinate functions to others, as Christ did 
(John 4:2), and Paul (1 Cor. 1:17), and all the 
apostles (Acts 6). 



XVII 

The New Order of Service 

(1523) 

[This little treatise, written for the same congregation 
(at Leisnig) as the preceding, and given here in its en- 
tirety, lays down the fundamental principles of the Lutheran 
service. Later Luther composed his Formula Missae (1523) 
and his Deutsche Messe (1526), Latin and German orders 
of service, respectively, with musical settings, which are 
the practical working out of the liturgical principles laid 
down in our little treatise. — For the latest development of 
these liturgical principles, see the new Common Service 
Book of the Lutheran Church, to be published in 1917.] 



The Church service that is now everywhere in use 
is, like the office of the ministry, of good Christian 
origin. But as the ministry has been corrupted by the 
spiritual tyrants, so the service has been spoiled by 
the hypocrites. And as we do not abolish the ministry 
but seek to restore it to its rightful estate, so too it 
is our purpose to do with respect to the service. 

Three great abuses have crept into the service. ( 1 ) 
The Word of God has been put to silence, and there 
has been nothing but reading and chanting in the 
churches. This is the worst abuse of the three. (2) 
Because God's Word was kept silent, a multitude of 
abominable non-Christian lies and fables in saints'- 
legends, chants and sermons has crept in. (3) Such 
services have come to be regarded as good works, by 
which one may merit the grace of God and salvation. 
In this way faith has perished, and all that men care 



THE NEW ORDER OF SERVICE 91 

for is to make gifts and foundations to the Church, 
and to become priests, monks and nuns. 

Now, in order that these abuses may be removed, it 
is necessary first of all to know that a Christian con- 
gregation ought never to come together unless the 
Word of God be preached and prayers said, be it 
never so briefly. As it is said in Psalm 102:22, when 
the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms to 
serve the Lord, it should be to declare the name of the 
Lord and His praise. And Paul says in 1 Cor. 14:31, 
that there should be in the congregation those that 
prophesy, those that teach, and those that exhort. 
Hence, unless God's Word is preached, it is better 
that there should be no singing nor reading nor indeed 
any coming together at all. 

This was the practice of Christians in the days of 
the apostles. And it should still be our practice to- 
day, to meet together for an hour every morning at 
four or five o'clock, and to have a Scripture lesson read 
by the schoolboys, priests or whoever may be selected, as 
is done in our present matin service. This should be 
done by one or two individuals, or by one or two 
choirs in turn, as is most convenient. 

Thereupon the preacher, or to whomever this duty 
is assigned, should expound a portion of the Scripture 
lesson, in order that all the rest may understand, learn 
and lay the same to heart. The former [the reading of 
the lesson] Paul calls "speaking in unknown tongues" 
(1 Cor. 14:27) [Luther regards the speaking with 
tongues in this passage as a speaking in unknown Ian- 



enacts. and compares with it the reading ot : :e lessons 
in Latin] the latttei the e\p 

calls "intei preting."' "sying." 01 "s 

with the understanding" v 1 ^ or - 14:10V Unless I 
Lute: be cone, the reading ot the lesson profits the 
congregation not one whit. Dial IS ¥1 q have 

been doing in the monasteries and foundations up to 
now— making the walls echo with cmp:\ sound. 

Ine lesson should be taken from the Old Testament, 
by reading one cook attei another, a chaptet 01 two 
or halt a chapter at ;i time . Bible has 

been read through. It any passage be not understood, 
it should be passed over end glon given to Uiod. B\ 
such daily use ot the Scripture Christians should be 
made thoroughly familiar with the Bible. In former 
times this method produced main good Christians, 
virgins and martyrs, and should do the same to-day. 

After a halt hour or more has been spent in reading 
and expounding the lesson, the congregation should 
then give thanks and praise to Ood and pray that 
the Word may bear fruit. For this purpose the psalms 
and certain good responses or amiphons should be used, 
but briefly, so that all may be over within the hour. 
It it be desired, a longer time may be devoted to it; 
but we ought not to overload men's souls and weary 
them, as the poor beasts of burden in the monastic 
houses have been doing to themselves. 

A similar service should be held at five or six ot 
the evening. And here again the lesson should be 
taken from the Old Testament books in their order : 



THE NEW ORDER OF SERVICE 93 

the evening lesson from the prophets, as the morning 
lesson was from Moses and the historical books. But 
since we have also a New Testament, I would assign 
the Old Testament to the morning and the New to the 
evening service, or vice versa. The lesson at the 
evening service is to be read, expounded, and fol- 
lowed by chants and prayers, just as in the morning. 
For all depends upon the Word of God, and that it be 
kept before the people and constantly uplift and refresh 
the soul, lest it grow weary. 

The holding of another such service later in the day, 
after the evening meal, I leave optional. 

If it be not possible for the entire congregation to 
attend these daily services, yet the priests and scholars 
should do so, especially those scholars who are expected 
to become faithful preachers and pastors. They 
should be admonished to attend of their own free will, 
not grudgingly or of necessity, and not for temporal 
or eternal reward, but solely to the glory of God and 
for the good of their fellowmen. 

But beside the daily services for these smaller groups, 
there should be services for the whole congregation on 
Sunday, when mass [the chief service; see above, p. 
34L] and vespers should be sung, as we have hitherto 
been accustomed to do. At each of these services a ser- 
mon should be preached to the whole congregation ; in 
the morning on the gospel lesson for the day, in the 
evening on the epistle lesson. Or, if the preacher deem 
it profitable, he may also preach on continuous portions 
of biblical books at either or both services. 



94 LUTHER PRIMER 

If any desire, thereafter, to partake of the sacrament, 
it should be administered. This can be arranged, ac- 
cording to the time at one's disposal and the number 
of persons desiring to commune. 

All daily masses [see above, p. 34f.] should be 
abolished; for the Word, not the mass, is the thing. 
However, if any should desire to commune on a week- 
day, mass may then be held, as the devotion of the 
congregation and the time permit ; for in this matter 
one can lay down no hard and fast rule. 

The chants for Sunday masses and vespers should be 
retained, for they are excellent and scriptural; still 
they may be shortened or added to. But for daily 
matins and vespers, the pastor and preacher should 
appoint suitable chants and psalms. They should ap- 
point for each of these services, a psalm, a good re- 
sponsory or antiphon, and a collect, to be audibly read 
[as over against the indistinct mumbling of the priest 
at the altar] and sung after the reading and exposition 
of the lesson. But the antiphons, responses, collects 
and lessons for saints' days and festivals of the cross, 
had better be omitted for a while longer, until they 
have been purged of the abominable errors they contain. 

All saints' days should be done away with, or if there 
be any with a good Christian legend, they should be 
observed on the nearest Sunday, after the morning ser- 
mon, for the sake of the lessons they teach. I would, 
however, retain the feasts of the Purification and the 
Annunciation of Mary [Feb. 2 and March 25] ; those 
.of the Assumption and the Nativity of Mary" [Aug. 15 



THE NEW ORDER OF SERVICE 95 

and Sept. 8] must also be retained for a while longer, 
though their chants are not free from error. The feast 
of John Baptist [June 24] also, is a pure feast [by 
"pure" he means scriptural]. None of the legends of 
the apostles is pure, except those of St. Paul; hence 
the latter may be used on the nearest Sundays, or on 
the calendar days if one prefer. , 

Further changes will suggest themselves as time and 
opportunity present. But the chief thing should be 
that whatever is done have this one end in view — that 
the Word be kept before the people and the service 
be not turned again into empty chatter and noise, as be- 
fore. It were better to omit everything else than the 
Word, and nothing better can be done than to pro- 
claim the Word. For all the Scriptures show T us that the 
Word should have free course among Christians, and 
Christ Himself tells us that one thing is needful, 
namely, that Mary sit daily at His feet and hear His 
w^ord (Luke 10:42). This is that good part which 
is to be chosen, and which shall never be taken away. 
For it is an eternal Word. All other things must pass 
away, however careful and troubled Martha may be 
about them. May God grant us His help: Amen. 



XVIII 

The First Protestant Hymn Book 
(1524) 

[Luther was ever a friend of song. He was himself gifted 
with a clear tenor voice and was fond of playing the lute. 
"Music," he declared, "is one of the most precious gifts of 
God ; I rank it next in order to theology." One of his 
greatest reformatory acts was the giving to the people a 
part in the service, especially by means of the congrega- 
tional hymn. In 1524 he persuaded the elector to send his 
choir-master Johann Walther (1496-1570) to Wittenberg, to 
help Luther with the musical portion of his task. To- 
gether they prepared the first Protestant hymnal contain- 
ing words and full musical' settings, — the Geistliche Ge~ 
sangbiichlein, containing thirty-two German hymns and five 
Latin chants. Luther wrote the following preface for the 
little book.] 



Every Christian knows, I daresay, that the singing 
of sacred songs is good and well-pleasing to God. The 
example of the Old Testament prophets and kings who 
praised God with hymns and the playing on instru- 
ments, and the ancient practice of the Christian 
Church are familiar to all. Moreover, St. Paul ordains 
this practice in 1 Cor. 14:15, and exhorts the Co- 
lossians (Col. 3:16) to sing psalms and spiritual songs 
in their hearts to the Lord, in order that thereby the 
Word of God and Christian truth may every way 
[i. e., not only by means of preaching and teaching] 
be taught and practiced. 

Therefore, to make a beginning and as an incentive 
to other and more competent hands, I have, together 
with others, collected here a number of spiritual songs, 



THE FIRST PROTESTANT HYMN BOOK 97 

in order to teach and spread abroad the holy Gospel, 
which by the grace of God is again risen upon us. 
Thus we, too, may be able to boast as Moses did, that 
the Lord is our strength and our song (Ex. 15:2), 
and that we know nothing to sing or to say save Jesus 
Christ our Saviour, as Paul writes in 1 Cor. 2 :2. 

These hymns are arranged for four voices, for the 
sake of the youth, who ought indeed to be trained in 
music as well as in the other pure arts, in order that 
they may be weaned away from the love ditties and 
worldly songs and learn something wholesome in their 
stead. For we owe it to our young folk to make the 
good as attractive as possible. [Compare below, p. 133.] 

I am not of the opinion that all arts are to be sup- 
pressed and destroyed by the Gospel, as divers super- 
spiritual ones would have it. On the contrary, I 
should like to see all arts, and particularly music, in 
the service of Him who is their author and giver. I 
therefore commend this matter to all good Christians, 
and pray them, if God have granted them better gifts 
than ours or as good, to lend their aid. There is 
no need to tell why this is necessary ; all the world is, 
alas! so lax and indifferent when it come to the train- 
ing of the young [see chap. xx]. May God grant 
us His grace: Amen. 



XIX 

A Children's Hymn for Christmastide 

(1534) 

[In the first Protestant hymn book (chap, xviii) twenty- 
four of the thirty-two hymns were by Luther. Altogether 
we have thirty-seven hymns from his pen, about one-half 
of which are still in use. He is rightly regarded as the 
father of the evangelical Kirchenlied. He was a poet by 
nature, and the needs of the Church formed the occasion 
that set him singing. His hymns are characteristic of 
him: there is nothing sentimental or "sweet" about them, 
nothing here f of "art for art's sake," nothing of the indi- 
vidualistic, though all is intensely personal. They are dis- 
tinctively hymns for the worshiping congregation singing 
the great verities of the Christian religion as they are ap- 
prehended by a living and joyous faith. Their range is very 
wide — from the wind and fire and earthquake of A Mighty 
Fortress to the still small voice of From Far-off Heaven. 

The latter as perhaps the tenderest, and certainly the most 
poetical, of all his hymns, is given below. Based in its 
opening stanza on an old traveler's song, it becomes, as its 
structure shows, a little nativity-play in lyric form, to be 
acted by the children on Christmas Eve. Perhaps Luther 
himself, or it may be the trusty but somewhat weak-minded 
servant of the Luther House, Wolf Sieberger (see chap. 
xxvi), played the role of the angel. What here follows is 
an entirely imaginary scene.] 



It is Christmas Eve in the Black Cloister. Outside, 
the snow is driving down the street and drifting into 
doorways and window-openings. There will be work 
to-morrow for Wolf. 

Within, in the great living room above stairs, the 
household is gathered. There is the Herr Doktor him- 
self, lightly strumming on his lute; Frau Kathe with 



a children's hymn for christmastide 99 

I 
her Baby Paul in arms; Muhme Lene, her aged 

aunt; and a number of University students, boarders 
in the Luther House and too poor to spend the holi- 
days in their distant homes. There is also the great 
Philip Melanchthon, small in stature and "weazened 
like St. Paul/' yet the Teacher of all Germany; Dr. 
Bugenhagen, the worthy pastor of the Luther family; 
Justus Jonas with his wife (his "rib", as Luther play- 
fully called her) and Nicholas Amsdorf, the crusty 
bachelor, with a few other visitors and neighbors. 

In one corner, opposite the great green-tiled stove, 
stands the German Christmas-tree, glowing in the light 
of its candles. Underneath it is the traditional manger 
scene. In another corner the children are crouching, 
hidden in the shadows, "making believe'' they are the 
shepherds watching in the field by night. There is 
Hans, the eldest, the little songster of whom his father 
once made a fine parable. This is w T hat he said : — 

"When I am at my writing-table hard at work, 
Hanschen sits on the floor and lustily sings a little 
song. At times he sings so loud it disturbs me, and 
I have to scold him a little. He does not therefore 
cease his singing, but lowers his voice and hums his 
song right softly, with many a scared look in my 
direction. That is exactly how God means us to do 
when He says, 'Rejoice with trembling!' " — Hans is 
also the blessed boy to whom his father sent that most 
beautiful of all letters that ever gladdened a four-year- 
old's heart (chap, xxiv, 2). 



IOO LUTHER PRIMER 

There is Hans's shy sweet sister Magdalena, her 
father's favorite, whose early death in the thirteenth 
year of her maidenhood was to break his heart; little 
Martin, Junior; also Hans's playmates, Phil Melanch- 
thon and Justy Jonas, who shared in the glory of the 
famous letter, for did not the man say that they, too, 
might come into the wonderful garden? 

The signal is finally given and clumsy Wolf, who 
has had great trouble squeezing himself into his angel's 
costume, now bursts upon the scene in all his glory, 
singing to Luther's soft accompaniment: — 

"From far-off Heaven I come to you, 
I bring good tidings, strange and new; 
Such wondrous things have I to tell, 
I pray you mark my message well. 

"To you this day a Child is born, 
Son of a Maiden fair as morn, — 
Lord Christ, who would your Saviour be, 
From all your sins to set you free. 

"Now mark the sign: A cattle shed, 

And in the shed a manger bed, 

And in the bed a Baby laid, — 

By Him all heaven and earth was made." 

With the first note the children have risen and now 
stand in a solemn row, with clasped hands and shining 
faces, singing: — 



A children's hymn for christmastide ioi 

"The shepherds run to Bethlehem; 

Let us rejoicing go with them, 

To see what God to us hath given, 

Who sends this day His Son from heaven." 

Then, suiting the action to the word, they approach 
the manger-crib before the Christmas-tree, and as they 
imagine the shepherds to have done, fall upon their 
knees in adoration and sing one after the other their 
little welcome-songs. Hans, a trifle pompous as be- 
comes the eldest, chants in his clearest voice the open- 
ing stave : — 

"All hail, Thou noble Guest, this morn, 
Whose love did not the sinner scorn ; 
In my distress Thou com'st to me ; 
What thanks shall I return to Thee?" 

After him, his sister Lenchen timidly takes up the 
strain : — 

"Were earth a thousand times more fair, 
Inlaid with gold and jewels rare, 
It yet were all too bare to be 
A narrow cradle, Christ, for Thee." 

Last comes little Martin, who is not yet four. His 
mother has had a hard time teaching him his "piece/' 
and he looks to her now for her smile of guidance be- 
fore setting out. He touches only very lightly on the 



102 LUTHER PRIMER 

i 

words, but roars the tune all the louder, meanwhile 
glancing disdainfully at his little brother Paul in 
mother's lap, who cannot sing: — 

"Ah, dearest Jesu, Holy Child, 
Make Thee a bed all undefiled 
Within my heart, that it may be 
A quiet chamber kept for Thee." 

Then the whole company rises and with folded 
hands and faces raised toward heaven, joins in the clos 
ing chorus, Dr. Luther's tenor sailing high over all 
their voices: — 

"Praise God upon His heavenly throne, 
Who gave to us His only Son ; 
For this His hosts on joyful wing 
A glad New Year of mercy sing." 

And then the candles are blown out and the children 
troop off to bed. 



XX 
Christian Schools for Boys and Girls 

(1524) 

[Under the influence of the rediscovered Gospel many of 
the monasteries were vacated and the monastic schools 
closed. Luther realized- the absolute necessity of a proper 
training of the young, if the life of Church and State was 
to prosper. Hence he addressed an eloquent plea ''to all 
councilmen of German cities," urging them "to establish 
and support Christian schools." It is interesting to note 
the firm position he takes in favor of a classical education 
over against what we now call vocational training, also 
that he advocates schools for girls. — Comp. Painter: Lu- 
ther on Education, and article Luther in Encyclopedia of 
Education.] 



In the first place, we are at present experiencing 
how all over Germany the schools are permitted to 

decline And since the carnally minded populace 

see that they are no longer compelled or 
no longer able to turn their sons and daugh- 
ters out of their own house and home and drive 
them into monasteries and foundations, no one will any 
longer let his children study. "Tell us," they say, 
"why should we let them study, if they are not to 
become priests or monks or nuns? They had better 
learn how to support themselves." 

I therefore pray you, my dear lords and friends, for 
God's sake and the poor youths', not to take this matte - 
lightly, as so many are doing, who do not see through 
the wiles of the prince of this world. For it is a most 
important and serious matter, upon which much de- 



104 LUTHER PRIMER 

pends for Christ and all the world, — namely, that we 
help and provide for our youth. By helping them we 
shall be helping ourselves and all men. I pray you to 
reflect that we must with deep Christian seriousness 
oppose this subtle, secret, crafty attempt of the devil. 
Dear lords, what vast sums must needs be spent every 
year for the equipment of soldiers, the construction of 
roads and dams, and innumerable similar items, in 
order that a city may enjoy temporal peace and pros- 
perity. Why should not at least as much be devoted 
to the needs of the youth, so that one or two com- 
petent men could be engaged to teach school ? 

Moreover, every citizen ought to be moved by the 
following consideration. Formerly he was compelled 
to give up great sums of money for indulgences, masses, 
vigils, foundations, testaments, anniversaries, mendi- 
cants, sodalities, pilgrimages, and all the other vermin; 
but now he is free by God's grace from all this robbing 
and giving. If, out of gratitude to God, he were 
to give up only a portion of what he saves in this way, 
for schools in which to train the poor children, what 
a good investment that would be! If the light of 
the Gospel had not dawned upon him and delivered 
him, he would have to give up ten times more to the 
above mentioned robbers forever and without any re- 
turn. Let this be the first reason, dear lords, for es- 
tablishing schools — we ought thereby to oppose the 
devil, our most insidious and crafty foe. 

The second reason is found in the words of St. 
Paul, — that we receive not the grace of God in vain, 



CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 105 

rior fail to redeem the time (2 Cor. 6:1, 2). For Al- 
mighty God has indeed graciously visited us Germans 
and granted us a right golden year. We have at 
present most able and learned young men, well versed 
in the classics and the sciences, who could do much good 
if we made use of them as instructors of the young. 
Since God has so richly blessed us and given us so 
many young men able to teach and train our youth, 
we ought not to despise His grace and let Him knock 
at our door in vain. If we suffer Him to pass by, 
who will bring Him back? 

Let us call to mind our former misery and the dark- 
ness in which we sat. Germany, I trow, has never 
before heard so much of God's Word. If we permit it 
to go by without thanks and praise, let us beware lest 
we suffer a more cruel darkness and plague. Dear Ger- 
mans, buy while the fair is before your door ; make 
hay while the sun shines; use God's grace and Word 
while they are nigh. For know this, — God's Word 
and grace are very like a driving shower, that returns 
not again. It came to the Jews, but it passed over; 
now they have nothing. Paul brought it to Greece, 
but it passed over; now they have the Turk. Rome 
and the Latin Church had it, too ; it passed over ; now 
they have the pope. And you Germans need not think 
you will have it for ever. Your ingratitude and con- 
tempt will not suffer it to remain. Therefore, take 
and hold fast, whoever can ; idle hands cannot but have 
a lean harvest. 



106 LUTHER PRIMER 

The third reason is the most important of all. It 
is God's command, so often enjoined by Moses, that 
parents instruct their children (Deut. 21 :i8ff. ; 32:7). 
"Ah," you say, "but that is said to parents; what busi- 
ness is it of councilmen and magistrates ?" Very true ; 
yet if the parents neglect it, who is to see to it? Or, be- 
cause the parents will not do it, should it remain alto- 
gether undone and the children be neglected ? In that 
case, could the magistrates and councilmen excuse them- 
selves by saying it is no business of theirs? There 
are many reasons why parents do not discharge this 
their duty. [He mentions particularly: lack of will- 
ingness, lack of ability, lack of time.] 

Therefore, it becomes the duty of the magistrates 
and councilmen to watch over the youth with unre- 
mitting care and diligence. For since the city with 
all its interests — property, honor, safety and life — is 
committed to their faithful keeping, they would not be 
dealing honorably before God or man if they failed to 
seek the prosperity and improvement of the city day 
and night with all their powers. Now the prosperity 
of a city consists not in heaping up great treasure, 
building solid walls and stately houses, or multiplying 
artillery and munitions of war; but a city's best and 
richest prosperity, strength and safety consist in the 
multitude of its able, learned, intelligent, honorable and 
well-bred citizens. Such men will bring together 
treasure and all goods, defend them, and put them, to 
a good use. 



CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 107 

"Well," you say again, "even though we must have 
schools, what is the good of learning Latin, Greek and 
Hebrew and the other liberal arts [see below, p. no] ? 
We should still be able to read the Bible and God's 
Word in German, and that is sufficient for our sal- 
vation. '' I answer: Alas! I know full well that 
we Germans must be and remain beasts and dumb 
cattle, as our neighbors in other countries deservedly 
call us. But is it not strange that we never once ask : 
"What is the good of silks, wines, spices, and all the 
other strange foreign wares?" For we have in Ger- 
man lands enough wine, grain, wool, flax, wood and 
stone for all our needs, and the very choicest of them 
for luxury and adornment. The arts and languages, 
which are not only not harmful to us but a far greater 
adornment, glory and benefit, both for the understand- 
ing of the holy Scriptures and the conduct of secular 
government, — these we despise ; but we cannot do with- 
out the foreign wares, which we do not need and which 
reduce us to our last penny! Are we not rightly 
styled German fools and beasts? 

If there were no other use for the languages, this 
alone might well rejoice and move us — namely, that 
they are so fine and noble a gift of God, wherewith 
He is even now richly visiting and endowing us Ger- 
mans more than almost any other land. 

Therefore, my beloved Germans, let us open our 
eyes, thank God for this precious treasure, and hold 
fast to it, lest it be withdrawn from us and the devil 
have his evil will. For, although the Gospel has come 



108 LUTHER PRIMER 

and daily comes by the Holy Spirit alone, we cannot 
deny that it came by means of language, by which it 
was also spread abroad and increased, and by which 
it must be preserved. 

In proportion, then, as we love the Gospel, let us 
look well to the languages. For it was not in vain 
that God had His Scriptures set down in these two 
languages and none other — the Old Testament in He- 
brew, the New in Greek. The languages that God 
did not despise but chose above all others for His 

Word, we too ought to honor above all others 

And let us remember that we shall not long preserve 
the Gospel without the languages. For they are the 
sheath in which this sword of the Spirit is contained; 
they are the casket in which one carries this jewel; 
they are the vessel in which one holds this wine ; they 
are the larder in which this food is stored ; and, as the 
Gospel itself says, they are the baskets in which one has 
the loaves and fishes and the broken meat. 

"But," say you, "who can spare his children for so 
long a time, and have them all educated and turned 
into gentlemen? There is work for them to do at 
home." I reply: It is not my intention that such 
schools should be established as we have hitherto had, 
in which a lad would sit over his Latin schoolbooks 
for twenty or thirty years without learning a thing. 
Times have changed, and we are living in a different 
world to-day. My plan is, to let the boys go to school 
one or two hours a day, and spend the remainder of 
the time working at home, learning a trade or doing 



CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 109 

whatever else the parents wish them to do; so that 
both these things may go hand in hand, as long as the 
boys are young and have the time. They spend ten 
times as much time playing at marbles and ball or 
racing and romping, as they would in this way spend 
at school. 

In the same way a girl will surely have time enough 
to go to school one hour a day and yet attend to all 
her household duties. She sleeps or dances or plays 
away more time than that. What is lacking is not the 
time, but the serious purpose to train the youth and to 
serve the world by furnishing it with well-bred men 
and women. Of course, the devil much prefers block- 
heads and ne'er-do-wells, lest it go too well with men 
upon earth. 

Finally, all who are concerned that such schools and 
languages be established and maintained in German 
lands may well bear in mind that no effort or expense 
should be spared to found good libraries, especially 
in the larger cities that can well afford them. For, 
if the Gospel and all knowledge are to continue 
among us, they must needs be contained and held 

fast in books and writings But I advise 

against an indiscriminate assembling together of 
all sorts of books, and against looking merely to 
their number and quantity. I would have the books 
chosen with great care. 

Such a library should contain, first of all, the 
Sacred Scriptures in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, 
German and any other language. Then the best and 



IIO LUTHER PRIMER 

oldest commentaries that are to be found, in Greek, 
Hebrew and Latin. Then such books as aid one in ac- 
quiring language — the poets and orators, whether 
heathen or Christian, Greek or Latin; for from them 
one must needs learn grammar. Then books of the 
liberal arts [i. e., grammar, logic, rhetoric, arith- 
metic, geometry, music, astronomy] and the other arts. 
Lastly, books of jurisprudence and medicine, although 
here, too, it is necessary to choose well. Among the 
chief contents of a library should be chronicles and his- 
tories, in all languages; for they are of wondrous 
value in helping one to understand and control the 
events of this world and to note the wonderful works 
of God. 



XXI 

Invitation to a Wedding Feast 

(1525) 

[Luther's attitude in the Peasants' Uprising of 1524-5 
has been much criticized, not always in fairness. It is not 
true that the Reformation was the cause of the peasants' 
revolt; there had been half a dozen such uprisings on a 
smaller scale before Luther appeared on the scene. Nor is 
it correct, on the other hand, to deny all connection be- 
tween the two;. "when one house is blown up, its neighbor 
is sure to be shaken, especially if both stand upon the same 
foundation." The religious liberty which Luther taught 
(comp. chap, vii), distorted and applied to the political and 
economic sphere by demagogues such as the Wittenberg 
radicals (comp. chap, xiv) and others, fell like a spark 
into the tinder of the peasants' age-long grievances. 

Luther sympathized at first with the peasants in their just 
demands, and wrote a little book on the subject in which 
he took both lords and peasants severely to task and ad- 
vocated some sort of arbitration. But when the peasants 
resorted to violence and marched plundering and murder- 
ing through Germany, he took a firm stand for law and 
order and in his vehement pamphlet, Against the Robbing 
and Murdering Hordes of the Peasants, advocated the most 
extreme measures against the rebels (comp. p. 76). This 
cost him many friends, as he complains in the beginning 
of the following letter; but it saved the cause of the Refor- 
mation from being drawn into a social and economic move- 
ment in which it must inevitably have gone under. 

It was characteristic of him that he chose this time above 
all others to take a step which was calculated to make his 
"mad and stupid" opponents "madder and stupider" still. 
On June 13, 1525, he was quietly married by his pastor 
Bugenhagen to the escaped nun Katherine von Bora (see 
p. 152). She proved to be a loving and capable helpmate 
and manager. God blessed them with six children. Lu- 
ther once said that he would not change his Katie for 
France and Venice — "because God has given her to me, and 
other women have much worse faults than she has; she is 
true to me and a good mother to my children." — Comp. 
Endlich: Katharine von BoraJ] 



112 LUTHER PRIMER 

To the worshipful, learned, honorable and wise Dr. 
John Ruhl, John Thur and Caspar Muller, council- 
lors.f 

Grace and peace in Christ. 

Dear sirs and friends: — What a hullabaloo I have 
raised by my little book against the peasants! Now 
all the good things God has wrought by me for the 
world are clean forgot. Nobles, priests and peasants- 
all are turned against me and threaten me with death. 
Well then, since they are so mad and stupid as to 
seek my life, it behooves me to set my house in order, 
so that before I die I may be found in the estate or- 
dained of God, and rid of the last vestige of my former 
papistical life. That will make them madder and 
stupider still, and shall serve as my last farewell. 
For I have a foreboding myself that God will ere long 
call me home. 

Therefore, in deference to my father's wish, I have 
taken unto myself a wife, and lest evil tongues should 
prevent it, I have gone about it in great haste. It 
is my intention to give a little wedding feast on the 
Tuesday next after St. John Baptist [June 24; the 
Tuesday after was the 27th]. I did not want to do 
this without letting you know, as my dear friends, and 
I pray that you will come and help drink our healths. 

Conditions being as they are in our land at present 
[he refers to the revolt of the peasants and the conse- 
quent necessity of public officials remaining at their 



f Citizens of his former home, Mansfeld; Ruhl was Lu- 
ther's brother-in-law. 



INVITATION TO A WEDDING FEAST 113 

post of duty], I have not the heart to send you a 
formal invitation to be present. But if you could 
manage and would do me the favor to come, along 
with my dear father and mother, you may judge 
for yourselves how extraordinarily it would please me 
I should be glad, too, if you brought any other good 
friends with you ; only please let me know about this 
by return messenger. t 

I would also have written to my gracious lords, 
Counts Gebhard and Albert, but did not venture, for 
their Graces have other things to attend to4 But if 
you think it proper for me to invite them, please give 
me your advice. God bless you: Amen. 

Martin Luther. 

Wittenberg, Thursday after Trinity [June 15] , 
1525. 



fThis last clause is doubtless due to Katie's foresight. — 
The three Mansfeld friends accepted the invitation; Riihl 
brought a great surprise in the form of a wedding gift of 
twenty gulden in gold, from Luther's old enemy Albrecht 
of Mayence (comp. chap, xxvii). This Luther refused to 
accept, but his more thrifty housewife managed to keep 
it without her husband's knowledge. 

^Their Graces did not have other things to attend to when 
they invited the aged Luther to adjust a quarrel between 
them, in the course of which he met his death (see chap, 
xxviii). 



XXII 

Preface to the Small Catechism 

(1529) 

[From the very first Luther was deeply interested in the 
traditional catechetical material of the Church — especially 
the Ten Commandments, the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. 
He frequently expounded these parts before his congrega- 
tion in catechism sermons during the years 1516-1529, up 
to the very time his catechisms were written. Portions of 
these expositions were published by him from time to time; 
we can now see that they were little sketches or studies pre- 
liminary to the composition of the Catechism proper (comp. 
chap. iv). In 1520 there appeared his Brief Explanation of 
the Ten Commandments, the Greed, and the Lord's Prayer 
— one of his most beautiful writings and an important fore- 
runner of his catechisms. This was translated and pub- 
lished in England as Marshall's Goodly Primer (1534-5) 
and thus became the first evangelical catechism in the Eng- 
lish language. (Comp. Works of Martin Luther, vol. ii, 
pp. 351-384.) All this time the material was falling into 
definite shape in his mind, until finally the saddening ex- 
periences of the Saxon Visitation in 1527-28 furnished the 
external impetus, and the two catechisms were composed 
very early in 1529, the Small Catechism during a pause in 
the composition of the Large. The Small Catechism is 
the best single piece of work Luther ever did, as to both 
form and substance; it is as popular as Mother Goose, 
as profound as Calvin's Institutes. It was not published 
first in book form but on large charts (Tafeln), to be hung 
in churches, schoolrooms and homes. It has been translated 
into many languages, among others by the Swedish mis- 
sionary John Campanius into the dialect of the Delaware 
Indians (1648, but not published until 1696). In 1580 it 
was incorporated in the "Book of Concord", the collection of 
the confessions of the Lutheran Church, among which it 
holds a place similar to that of the Apostles' Creed among 
the creeds of Christendom. Besides the Small Catechism, 
another of Luther's writings has become a confession of 
the Church, 'viz., his Schmalkald Articles, written in 1537* 
This is so strong an indictment of the papacy that when the 
pacific Melanchthon signed it he did so only with an ex- 



PREFACE TO THE SMALL CATECHISM II 5 

plicit proviso. — On the Small Catechism see Prof. M. Reu: 
Katecheiik (Waverly, la.: 1915) and article by the same, 
on "The Significance of Luther's Small Catechism," in 
Lutheran Church Review, vol. xxxiii, p. 296 ff. (1914).] 



The wretched and deplorable conditions which I 
discovered during my recent visitation have impelled 
me to put the Catechism, or Christian doctrine, in this 
brief and simple form. Great God, what misery 
I beheld! The common people, especially in the vil- 
lages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian truth, 
and many of the pastors are, alas! too ignorant and 
incompetent to instruct them. Nevertheless, they are 
all supposed to bear the sacred name of Christ, to be 
baptised, and to partake of the holy Sacrament. Yet 
they do not know the Lord's Prayer, the Creed or 
the Ten Commandments, and they live like irrational 
beasts and swine. And now that the Gospel has come to 
them, they have learned to perfection how to abuse 
their Christian liberty! 

Wherefore I beseech you in the name of God, my 
beloved brethren who are pastors or preachers, to give 
yourselves with your whole heart to the duties of your 
office, to have compassion on the people committed to 
your charge, and to assist us in inculcating the Cate- 
chism [i.e., the Christian doctrine], especially in the 
young. If any of you have no better way of their 
own [comp. p. 96], I beseech them to adopt the ex- 
planations found on these charts [see introduction, 
p. 114] and to teach them, word for word, to their 
people. 



Il6 LUTHER PRIMER 

Please note, in the first place, that the preacher 
should be at great pains to avoid any changes or va- 
riations in the text and wording of the several parts. 
Let him keep to the same form year in and year out. 
For the simple youth must be given a fixed form of 
words to learn, or they will become confused. They 
should, first of all, be drilled in the text of the Ten 
Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, 
until they have committed it to memory, word for 
word. 

But if any refuse to learn this, they should be plainly 
told that they deny Christ and are not Christians. 
They should not be admitted to the Lord's Table, 
stand as sponsors in Baptism, nor enjoy any of our 
Christian privileges, but should be sent back to the 
pope and his agents, and to Satan himself besides. 
Moreover, their parents and employers should refuse to 
furnish them food and drink, and notify them that the 
government was disposed to banish from the country 
all persons of such rude and intractable character. 

Secondly, when they have become familiar with the 
text, they should also be taught the explanation, so 
that they may know the meaning of the words they 
have learned. Here, again, you may use the explana- 
tions given on the charts, or any others you may pre- 
fer; only see to it that you do not change a single 
syllable of the form which you have adopted. And 
take sufficient time for each part. 

Thirdly, after they have learned this Short Cate- 
chism, take up also the Large Catechism with them, 



PREFACE TO THE SMALL CATECHISM 117 

and give them the fuller explanations contained therein. 

Finally, since the people have been delivered from 
the tyranny of the pope, they refuse to come to the 
Lord's Supper and treat it with contempt. Now we 
ought to force no one to believe or to come to the 
Lord's Supper, nor ought we to make laws concerning 
the time and place for its reception. But we ought 
to preach in such a way that they will feel 
themselves driven without any law, and will 
come and compel us pastors to administer the sacra- 
ment to them. We can accomplish this, if we tell 
them it is much to be feared that whoever does not 
desire to commune at least from one to four times a 
year, despises the sacrament and is no Christian; just 
as he is not a Christian who does not believe or hear 
the Gospel. For Christ did not say, "This omit or 
despise!" but, "This do, as oft as ye drink it." He 
emphatically desires it to be done, and by no means 
to be neglected or despised; for He says, "This dol" 

Therefore, ye pastors and preachers, give earnest 
thought to these matters. Our office has become a very 
different one from what it was under the pope; it is 
a serious thing now, and a salutary. Consequently, it 
entails far greater cares and burdens, dangers and temp- 
tations, with small reward and gratitude from the 
world. But Christ Himself will be our reward, if 
we but do our work faithfully. In this may the 
Father of all grace help us, to whom be praise and 
thanksgiving for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord : 
Amen. 



XXIII 

A Loving Son to His Sick Father 

(1530) 

[Luther's father, Hans Luther, died May 29, 1530, after 
a lingering illness, during which his famous son sent him 
this affectionate and comforting letter. After the news of 
his father's death reached Luther at Coburg, his private 
secretary, Veit Dietrich (see chap, xxiv, 1), wrote to Frau 
Kathe: "Dear lady, pray don't worry about the Doctor. He 
is, thank God, right hale and hearty, and although his 
father's death was a sore blow to him, he ceased mourn- 
ing over it after two days. When he read Reinecke's let- 
ter he said to me 'My father is dead.' Then he took his 
Psalter (see chap, xi) and went to his room, and wept so 
sore he was unable to work for two days. Since then he 
has not given way to his grief any more." — Luther's mother 
survived her husband by only a little over a year.] 



To my dear father, Hans Luther, burgher of Mans 
feld. 

Grace and peace in Christ our Saviour! 

Dear Father, brother Jacob has written saying you 
were seriously ill. I am very anxious about you, the 
weather is so unheal thful just now and dangers lurk 
on every hand. Although God has given* you a hardy 
constitution and hitherto blessed you with good health, 
still your advanced age fills me with concern. I should 
have been glad to come to you, had I not been dissuaded 
by my friends from tempting God by running into 
danger; you know how deeply interested both lords 
and peasants are in my welfare [comp. chap. xxi]. I 
might be able to get to you, but I should never re- 
turn home alive. 



A LOVING SON TO HIS SICK FATHER 119 

It would be a great joy to us if my mother and you 
could find it possible to come here. My Kathe and 
all of us ask this with tears. We would nurse you 
tenderly. I have sent Cyriac [Kaufmann, a nephew of 
Luther, studying at Wittenberg since 1529; comp. 
chap, xxiv, 1. He was the bearer of this letter] to 
see if you are able to make the journey. For, what- 
ever the outcome of your illness, I should like to be 
near you and cherish you with filial affection, to show 
my gratitude to God and to you, according to the 
Fourth Commandment. 

Meanwhile I pray the Father who has given you, 
my father, to me, that He would strengthen you ac- 
cording to the abundance of His grace, and enlighten 
and keep you through His Spirit, so that you may with 
joy and gratitude discern the blessed Gospel of His 
Son our Lord, to which you have been brought by 
His grace out of the former darkness and error ; and 
I am confident that He who has begun His good work 
in you will preserve and perfect it unto Christ's joy- 
ous appearing. For He has even now set this seal 
to your faith, that He has brought much shame, con- 
tempt, enmity and danger upon you for my sake. These 
are the true marks of our likeness to Christ, as St. 
Paul says, "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him" 
[Rom. 8:29]. 

So remember in your weakness that we have a faith- 
ful Advocate with the Father, who has destroyed sin 
and death for us, and now sits in heaven with the 
angels, looking down upon us and waiting for us, so 



120 LUTHER PRIMER 

that when our hour comes to leave this world we need 
have no fear, His power over sin and death being so 
complete that they can do us no harm. Moreover He 
is so good and kind that He cannot leave us nor for- 
sake us. We need only call upon Him, nothing doubt- 
ing but that He will hear us according to His prom- 
ise. For He who cannot lie has said, "Ask, and it shall 
be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it 
shall be opened unto you" [Matt. 7 :J~] ; and again 
it is said [Acts 2:21], "Whosoever shall call on the 
name of the Lord shall be saved." And the whole 
Psalter is full of such precious promises, especially 
Psalm 91, which is particularly appropriate for all 
sick persons. 

I write this because of your illness which fills me 
with concern, for no one knows when his last hour may 
come. For I would be a partaker of your faith, con- 
flict, consolation, and gratitude to God ror His Holy 
Word, which he has so richly and abundantly be- 
stowed upon us at this time. 

But if it be His divine will not to transplant yon 
to that, better life, but to let you remain a little 
longer with us in this vale of sorrows, He will also 
grant you grace to accept your lot in a willing and 
obedient spirit. For this cursed life is truly a vale of 
tears, where the longer one lives the more sin, wicked- 
ness and misery one sees. There is no end until we 
are under ground ; then they will let us sleep in peace 
in Jesus until He comes and grants us a joyful awak- 
ing ! Amen. 



A LOVING SON TO HIS SICK FATHER 121 

Herewith I commend you to Him who loves you bet- 
ter than you love yourself, having paid the penalty for 
your sins with His own blood, so that you need have 
no more anxiety. Cast your cares upon Him, He 
shall bring it to pass; nay, He has already brought it 
to pass better than we shall ever comprehend. May 
this dear Saviour abide with you, so that we may meet 
again with joy, — God grant even here; if not, then 
yonder. For we believe without any doubt that we 
shall shortly meet again in Christ, as the departure 
from this life is a much smaller thing before God than 
if I left you in Mansfeld to come back here, or if you 
said farewell to me here in Wittenberg to return home 
to Mansfeld. It is only a matter of a short hour's 
slumber, then all shall be changed. 

I am sure your pastors render you faithful serv- 
ice in these matters, so that my chatter is altogether 
unnecessary; and yet I could not refrain from apolo- 
gizing for my bodily absence, which God knows is 
a sore trial to me. My Kathe, little Hans, Lenchen, 
Aunt Lena, and the w T hole household send greetings 
to you and all pray fervently for you. Give my love 
to my dear mother and all the relations. The grace 
and power of God be and abide with you alway: 
Amen.f 

Your affectionate son, 
Martinus Luther. 

Wittenberg, 15 February, 1530. 

tWhen his pastor read this letter to Hans Luther and 
asked him whether he believed that its contents were true, 
— -"Why," said the old man, "I'd be a rogue if I didn't." 



XXIV 

A Sheaf of Letters from 'The Wilderness' ' 

(1530) 

["The Wilderness" is the playful name Luther gave to 
Coburg castle, where he spent almost as long an enforced 
exile as at the Wartburg (from April 23 to October 4). 
It was during the sessions of the important Diet at Augs- 
burg, which he being under the ban was not allowed to 
attend. Those were times that tried men's souls, when the 
fate of the evangelical cause trembled in the balance. — 
The letters here given reflect various moods of the period. 
We have the delightful fantasy of the congress of birds in 
the Coburg woods (1) ; the letter to little Jack Luther (see 
chap, xix), a perfect child's classic (2) ; the tonic letter 
to the Hamlet-like Melanchthon (3), and the beautiful 
description of the well-known Luther coat of arms (4).] 



(i) To His Companions at Table in Wittenberg 
(April 22, 1530) 

[He means by them, besides the members of his own fam- 
ily with the servants, especially the student boarders and 
others to whom he used to discourse during meals, talk- 
ing on all things in heaven and earth. A number of these 
persons played Boswell to their master and jotted down his 
familiar discourse, which was later published as the Table 
Talk, a delightful but not too reliable collection. — See 
Smith and Gallinger: Conversations with Luther."] 



Grace and peace in Christ! 

My dear sirs and friends, — I received your letter 
telling me how you all are getting along. In reply 
let me tell you how things are with us. Although 
we — Master Veit [Dietrich, his secretary], Cyriac 
[Kaufmann, his nephew, see above, p. 119] and I — 



A SHEAF OF LETTERS FROM "THE WILDERNESS" 12 j 

are not going to the Diet at Augsburg, we have got 
into the midst of a diet of quite another sort. 

There is a thicket just below our window, as large 
as a small forest, where the daws and crows are hold- 
ing a diet of their own. Such a running to and fro 
is there, and such screaming day and night without 
end, as though one and all w-ere stark staring mad and 
drunken ; young and old crying and chattering together, 
that I wonder they are not hoarse and out of breath. 
I should like to know whether there are any of these 
knights and nobles left w r ith you at Wittenberg, for 
methinks they have come together here from all parts 
of the earth. 

I have not as yet laid eyes on their Emperor, but 
the courtiers and grandees are all the w T hile strutting 
and prancing about in full sight, all dressed alike 
very simply in black, with grey eyes, and all sing- 
ing the same song, with pleasant variation of young 
and old, of small and great. They pay no heed to 
lofty castle or hall, for their hall is vaulted by the 
beautiful canopy of heaven, the floor beneath them 
is the broad expanse of fields inlaid with green branches 
of trees, and the walls of their mansion reach to the 
ends of the earth. They are independent also of 
horses and armor, for they have feathered w T heels on 
which to escape beyond the reach of guns. 

They are high and mighty lords, but w T hat they are 
deliberating about is more than I know. From what 
I can make out through an interpreter, they seem 
to be planning a mighty onslaught on wheat, barley, 



124 LUTHER PRIMER 

oats, malt, and every other sort of grain. Many a 
knight will there win his spurs with deeds of derring- 
do. 

So here we sit at our diet, and take much pleas- 
ure watching the gay life of song led by the princes 
and the rest of the imperial estates. It gives us par- 
ticular pleasure to see their knights prancing about, 
whetting their bills and swinging their weapons, hop- 
ing to win a glorious victory over the grain. We 
wish them all manner of success — that the whole crew 
may be spit on a hedge-stake! 

I cannot help fancying it is the sophists and pap- 
ists I see before me, with their preaching and writ- 
ing, whose melodious voices I hear, and perceive what 
exceeding useful folk they are, who consume all the 
fruits of the earth and caw and chatter to while 
away the time. 

To-day we heard the first nightingale. They would 
not trust our April hitherto, though the weather has 
been splendid, with no rain at all except a light sprin- 
kle yesterday. I suppose it has been different up your 
way. Good-bye, and see well to the house. 

Martin Luther. 

From the Diet of the malt-destroying Turks, April 
22, 1530. 

(2) To Little Hans 
(June 19, 1530) 

[Hans, named for his grandfather, was Luther's eldest 
child. Shortly after his birth Luther wrote to Spalatin 
(comp. chap, ix, 1): "With the Lord's blessing my good 



A SHEAF OF LETTERS FROM "THE WILDERNESS" 125 

wife has borne me a son, and by the grace of God I am 
a father. Pray Christ to guard my little boy against Satan, 
who will certainly leave no stone unturned to strike at me 
through my child, if God permit him to do so. When are 
you coming to see us again? I have planted a garden and 
dug a well, and both are doing famously. So come, and we 
will crown you with garlands of lilies and roses" (June 
17, 1526). 

Hans was four years old when his wonderful letter ar- 
rived, and had a right to feel quite a man when his mother 
read it to him. Just before Luther's return from Coburg 
he sent his little son word through his mother that he had 
a fine big book for him, made all of sugar, which cousin 
Cyriac (comp. 1) had brought from Nuremberg, out of 
the beautiful garden about which Luther had written. 

In his Table Talk (comp. 1) Luther refers to a sim- 
ilar letter by bishop Hilary (366), who wrote, in exile, to 
his little daughter telling her to be good and learn to 
say her prayers, and how he had been to see a rich man 
who promised, if she was a good girl, to make her a pres- 
ent of a golden dress. "Thus sweetly and in childlike 
fashion," remarks Luther, who did the same, "the good 
father plays with his tiny daughter by letter."] 



Grace and peace in Christ, my dear little son. 

I am very happy indeed to hear that you are so dil- 
igently studying and saying your prayers. Continue 
to do so, my little boy, and when I come home I will 
bring you something pretty from the Fair.f 

I know a beautiful garden, where there are crowds 
of children, all dressed up in golden jackets. They 
pick up big apples under the trees, also pears, cherries, 
and purple plums and yellow plums, and they sing and 
skip about and have a jolly time. They also have 

fHe always brought along something for the children. 
From Torgau he writes to his wife in 1532: "Though the 
fair is on, I can't find anything in this city for the chil- 
dren. In case I shouldn't be able to bring anything along, 
be sure to have something ready for me at home." 



126 LUTHER PRIMER 

pretty ponies with golden reins and silver saddles. 1 
asked the man to whom the garden belonged, w^hose 
children they were. He said: "These are the chil- 
dren who love to pray and learn their lessons and are 
good." Then I said to him: "Dear man, I, too, 
have a son, his name is little Jack Luther; mightn't 
he also come into the garden, and eat such fine ap~ 
pies and pears, and ride on these pretty ponies, and 
play with the children?" "If he loves to pray and 
study, and is good," said the man, "he may, and Lip- 
pus and Jost, too [the sons of Melanchthon and Jus- 
tus Jonas, playmates of Hans; comp. chap, xix] ; and 
when they come they shall all have whistles and drums 
and lutes and every sort of string instrument, and 
dance, and shoot with little cross-bows." And he 
showed me a beautiful lawn in the garden, made ready 
for dancing, with golden whistles and drums and lit- 
tle silver cross-bows hanging all about. 

But as it was early, and the children had not yet 
breakfasted, I could not wait to see the dance. So I 
said to the man: "My dear sir, I must hurry away 
now and write all this to my dear little Hans, and 
tell him alw r ays to pray and study well and be good, so 
that he too may come into this garden. But he has an 
Auntie Lena [Magdalena von Bora, Frau Kathe's 
maiden aunt, who lived with them], whom he must 
bring along." "That he can," said the man ; "go and 
WTite him about it." 

So, dear little Jackie, only learn your lessons and 
pray, and tell Lippus 2nd Jost to do the same; then 



A SHEAF OF LETTERS FROM "THE WILDERNESS" 127 

you will all get into the garden together. Herewith 
I commend you to the Almighty. Give Auntie Lena 
my love and a hearty smack for me. 

Your loving father, 
Martinus Luther. 



( 3 ) To Philip M elanchthon 
(June 29, 1530) 

[The Augsburg Confession, written by Melanchthon, was 
presented before the Diet on June 25, and the following 
day Melanchthon sent a copy to Luther, with whom he kept 
in touch during its preparation. Melanchthon was of a 
timid, peace-loving nature and prone to make too many 
concessions- It was Luther's stronger personality and stur- 
dier faith that steadied him. After Luther's death, Melanch- 
thon became more and more of a reed and plunged the 
Protestant cause into great dissension. The following let- 
ter is a good specimen of Luther's tonic treatment of his 
friend.- — Comp. J. W. Richard: Philip Melanchthon, the 
Protestant Preceptor of Germany; and J. L. Neve: The 
Augsburg Confession.'] 



I have received your Apology [the Augsburg Con- 
fession], and cannot understand what you mean by 
asking what further concessions we should make to 
the papists For my part, I think we have al- 
ready yielded more than enough. If they will not ac- 
cept our Confession, I do not see how I can possibly 
yaeld anything more, unless they bring forward better 
arguments and clearer and more convincing Scripture 
passages [comp. p. 55] than I have seen up to now. 

I ponder this business night and day, looking at it 
from all sides and searching the Scriptures through, 



128 LUTHER PRIMER 

and the longer I contemplate it the more joyous grows 
my assurance that our doctrine is the truth, and the 
firmer my resolve, if God will, not to yield another 
inch, come what may. 

I am displeased at your saying in your letter that you 
have followed my "authority" in this affair. I refuse to 
be or to be regarded as your "authority" in this affair. 
Even if your words may be understood in a less 
objectionable sense, I flatly disavow the term. If it is 
not your own affair just as much as mine, I will not 
have it called mine and yet laid upon your shoulders. 
If it is mine alone, then I will also bear it myself! 

I tried to comfort you in my former letter, and 
hope its contents have brought you not death but new 
life. What more can I do? You are torturing your- 
self over the outcome of this matter, because you 
cannot comprehend it. Ah, but if you could com- 
prehend it, I should not want to have anything to 
do with it, much less stand as its "authority." 
God has put it in a "commonplace"! that is be- 
yond you with all your rhetoric and philosophy. It 
is called "faith", where all "things not seen" [Heb. 
ii :i] are found. Whoever attempts, like you, to 
see and comprehend these unseen things will reap 
tears and tribulation, as you are now doing. The 
Lord has said that He would dwell in darkness [i 
Kings 8:12]; He made darkness His hiding place and 



fA jocular allusion to Melanchthon , s great work, the 
first Protestant dogmatic, which he called Loci communes, 
"The Commonplaces" (1521). 



A SHEAF OF LETTERS FROM "THE WILDERNESS" 1 29 

pavilion [Ps. 18:11]. Whoever will not have it so, let 
him change it! Had Moses presumed to understand 
how Israel could elude Pharaoh's army, they would 
be in Egypt still. 

May God increase your faith and ours. If we have 
faith, what can Satan and the whole w r orld do to us? 
And if we have no faith of our own, why should we 
not comfort ourselves with the faith of others ? For 
even if we do not believe, there must be those who 
do. Otherwise there would no longer be a Church 
upon earth, and Christ must have ceased to be with 
us even before the end of the world [Matt. 28:20]. 
For if He be not with us, tell me where in all the 
world He is. If we are not the Church, or at least 
a part of it, where then is the Church? The Dukes 
of Bavaria, King Ferdinand, the Pope, the Turk — are 
they perhaps the Church? If we have not the Word 
of God, pray who has it ? 

If, then, God be for us, who can be against us [Rom. 
8:31]? Though we are ungrateful sinners, that 
does not make Him out a liar. But in this sacred 
and divine cause we cannot be sinners, however much 
we may err in other things. 

But you do not listen to what one tells you, so uttei- 
ly has Satan weakened and depressed you. May Christ 
make you whole ! That is my fervent unceasing prayer 

(4) To Lazarus Spengler 
(July 8, 1530) 

[Prince John Frederick was having a seal ring made at 
Nuremberg for Luther, with the well-known coat of arms 



130 LUTHER PRIMER 

upon it, the meaning of which Luther describes in the fol- 
lowing letter to his friend, the town-clerk at Nuremberg and 
a writer of hymns (e. g., Durch Adams Fall ist ganz 
verderbt) ,~\ 



Grace and peace in Christ! 

Honored dear sir and friend, — Since you wish to 
know whether they have got my seal right, I will tell 
you how I originally planned my coat of arms, as a 
symbolic representation of my theology. 

The first thing is a cross black, on a heart retain- 
ing its natural color, to remind me that it is faith in 
the Crucified that saves us. "For with the heart man 
believeth unto righteousness" [Rom. 10:10]. And 
though it be a black cross, mortifying the flesh and 
purposely inflicting pain, it does not change the color 
of the heart nor destroy our nature; it does not kill, 
but rather preserves life. For the just shall live by 
faith [Rom. I 117], namely by faith in the Crucified. 

This heart should be set in the midst of a white rose, 
to show that faith yields joy and peace and comfort, 
such as the world cannot give. That is why the rose 
is white and not red; for white is the color of spirits 
and all angels. 

This rose is placed on a field of heavenly blue, be- 
cause such spiritual joy and faith are a beginning of 
the future joys of heaven, which we enjoy even now by 
hope, though they are not yet manifest to the outward 
eye. And, encircling this field is a ring of gold, to 
signify that this bliss of heaven endures forever and 
ever [the ring is a symbol of eternity], and is more 



i3* 

precious than all other pleasures and possessions, even 
as gold is the most precious of all metals. 

May Christ, our blessed Lord, be with your spiiit 
till it attain to that life: Amen. 

From the Wilderness of Coburg [he whimsically re- 
verses the letters and writes it G?'uboc] } July 8, 1530. 



XXV 

Aesop's Fables 

(1530) 

[Luther was as fond as Lincoln of a good story. He 
greatly admired the parables of our Lord, and after them 
was drawn to Aesop's fables. Their homely and trenchant 
wisdom appealed to him as a part of the German folklore 
that always held a deep interest for him (he made, for in- 
stance, a collection of German proverbs and phrases), and 
the study of which helped to make him the great master 
of popular language. He made a little collection of these 
fables, turning them into "a somewhat better German," and 
found a much needed recreation touching them up during 
those trying days at Coburg. The very next morning after 
his arrival he wrote to Melanchthon: "We shall make 
three tabernacles on this mount — one for the Psalter, one 
for the prophets, and one for Aesop." — The following is 
part of the preface Luther wrote for the collection (con- 
taining only thirteen of the fables), which was not pub- 
lished until after his death, namely in 1557. — See Rich. 
Neubauer: Martin Luther, ii, icq.n\] 



This collection of fables was held in high esteem by 
the most learned men on earth, especially among the 
heathen. And, to tell the truth, I know of few books 
even to-day, apart from the Holy Scriptures, that bet- 
ter portray the external life of man, if one has re- 
gard to practical knowledge and wisdom rather than 
to highsounding words. For under the rude words 
of these simple tales one may find admirable doctrine, 
admonition and instruction, showing how the members 
of a family ought to behave themselves one toward 
the other, and how sovereigns and subjects ought to 



AESOP'S FABLES 133 

treat one another, that we may live wisely and at 
peace in this wicked world. 

It is a myth, I take it, that Aesop is the author of 
this book; very likely there was never on earth a man 
by that name. I rather imagine it was composed piece- 
meal by divers men of wisdom, and finally brought to- 
gether in its present form by some scholar or other. 

Those who invented the name and figure of Aesop 
doubtless had good reasons for so doing. They were 
men of wisdom and desired to make this book com- 
mon property and profitable to all. It is well known 
how intensely children and youths are interested in 
fables and fairy tales, and how easily they are drawn 
by means of them to wisdom and knowledge. This 
is all the more true when this wisdom is depicted as 
issuing from the mouth of Aesop or some other harle- 
quin; they become instantly all attention, they read or 
hear the tales read with amusement, and thus impress 
them on their minds. 

But these fables are not intended for children only. 
There is no better way of deceiving great lords and 
princes to their own profit than by their court-fools' 
telling them the truth. Though they would never suf- 
fer it from a wise man, they will gladly listen to it 
from their fools. Nay, all the world hates the truth 
when it hits home. 

So, these wise men of old composed fables in which 
they set animals talking to one another. It is as 
though they had said: "Very well; since no one is 
willing to hear the truth, and yet all need to hear 



134 LUTHER PRIMER 

it, let us disguise the truth and clothe it in the color 
of cunningly devised lies and pleasant fables. If 
they will not give ear to it when men speak it, well 
then, let them hear it out of the mouth of beasts 
and animals." Hence, in the fables, one animal tells 
the truth to another animal, and it sometimes comes 
to pass that the fictitious wolf or lion in the book 
reads the actual, two-legged wolf or lion a wholesome- 
lecture, such as neither pastor, friend nor foe would 
dare to do. Or, when the fables are being read out 
loud, the imaginary fox will sometimes administer to 
a human fox across the table such a lesson as will make 
him squirm in his seat and feel like stabbing or burning 
poor Aesop alive. 

These are some of the reasons why we have un- 
dertaken to revise this book and put it into somewhat 
better German. Especially were we concerned that 
our young folk should learn and remember these ad- 
mirable lessons, which they will do the more readily 
in the pleasant guise of fables, as it were in a panto- 
mime or puppet-show. We know what an improper 
book the German publishers have made of Aesop. They 
deserve to be severely punished ; for they have not 
only spoiled a good and useful book, and added many 
things of their own (this could have been borne), but 
they included in it many impure and indecent stories, 
which are an offence to any pure-minded man and 
which no young person can read or hear without tak- 
ing harm. 



AESOP'S FABLES 135 

We therefore pray all pious souls to destroy that 
old German Aesop and to use this one instead. Much 
pleasure and not a little profit may be got, at table 
after the evening meal, by reading aloud one or more 
of these fables and driving home the moral to child- 
ren and servants. 



XXVI 

The Complaint of the Birds 

(1534?) 

[Wolfgang Sieberger, or Wolf as he was called for short, 
had come to Wittenberg to study theology, but being a lit- 
tle weakminded he was before long graduated to the posi- 
tion of janitor at the Black Cloister and later became the 
servant-in-chief of the Luther family. He was a faithful 
fellow and despite his lameness a good worker, and wor- 
shiped his master. Luther was very fond of him and bought 
him a little plot of ground near the Black Cloister. Here 
Wolf set up as a fowler with "cruel birdnets and most 
wicked plots." He was not very successful, and Luther of- 
ten laughed at him, though underneath his mirth he disap- 
proved of anything like cruelty to the carefree birds. 
Probably in the autumn of 1534, he sent him the following 
playful letter, which must have set poor Wolf scratching his 
poll in surprise. "With the charming humor of the compo- 
sition is mingled that love of nature and wild things that 
always found expression when not crowded out by more 
urgent matters." — The faithful Wolf survived his master 
by only a year. — Comp. chap, xix.] 



Complaint of the Birds to Luther against his Servant 
Wolfgang Sieberger 

To our good and kind Dr. Martin Luther, preacher 
at Wittenberg: 

We thrushes, blackbirds, finches, linnets and gold- 
finches, with other pious and honest fowl, who shall 
touch at Wittenberg on our winter-journey, give you to 
know that we have it on good authority that one 
Wolfgang Sieberger, your servant, has conceived a 
wicked and dastardly plot against us. He has bought, 
at an exorbitant price, some worthless old birdnets 



THE COMPLAINT OF THE BIRDS 1 37 

with which to set up a fowling-ground for finches, out 
of the great anger and hatred he harbors toward us; 
whereby he intends to deprive not only our dear 
friends the finches but all of us as well, of our God- 
given liberty of flying through the air and picking up 
grains of corn on the earth, and to endanger our life 
and limb, though we have never done him any harm 
nor deserved such cruel treatment at his hands. 

All this is, as you may well imagine, a sore trouble 
and danger to us poor defenceless birds, who have 
neither barns nor houses, nor anything therein; and so 
we humbly and kindly petition you to prevent him 
carrying out his wicked design, or if this be impossible, 
at least to compel him to scatter corn for us on the 
evening before we arrive, and forbid him getting up 
before eight next morning and going out to his fowl- 
ing-ground. In that case, we will pursue our journey 
by way of Wittenberg. But if he refuses and in 
his wickedness insists on seeking our lives, we shall 
pray God to restrain him, and by day to fill his nets 
with frogs, locusts and snails instead of birds, and at 
night to send mice, fleas, lice and bugs crawling over 
him, so that he may forget about us and not hinder us 
in our flight. 

Why doesn't he vent his wrath and industry upon 
the sparrows, swallows, magpies, crows, ravens, mice 
and rats? These do you much harm, with stealing 
and robbing, and even carrying off corn, oats, malt and 
barley out of the house ; which we never do, but merely 
pick up the crumbs, with here and there a stray grain 



138 LUTHER PRIMER 

of wheat. We leave it to your fair judgment, whether 
he is not wrongfully persecuting us. However, we 
hope to God that, since so many of our brethren and 
friends have safely eluded him this autumn, we too 
shall escape his loose and broken old nets, which we 
examined yesterday. f 

Given in our celestial mansion amid the trees, under 
our customary seal and quills. 



"Behold the fowls of the air: for 
they sow not, neither do they reap, 
nor gather into barns: yet your 
heavenly Father feedeth them. Are 
ye not much better than they?" 
Matt. 6:26. 



fLuther was particularly amused when Wolf, after a 
number of birds had entered his fowling-net, would, in hope 
of catching more, keep the net open so long that the 
birds already caught escaped. 



XXVII 

The Latest News from the Rhine 

(1542) 

[This is a piece of Luther's most delicious fooling arid 
most biting satire. It was published anonymously at Halle, 
but as he wrote to a good friend, "Anyone who reads it 
and is familiar with my style must say, 'That's Luther.' " 
The Archbishop of Mayence was that same Albrecht to 
whom Luther had sent a copy of the Theses, and with 
whom he had a spicy correspondence from the Wartburg.f 
The tone of the little lampoon, as contrasted with that of 
the Theses, suggests how far the cause of Luther had mean- 
while progressed. Such "flying leaves," or broadsides, took 
in those days the place of the modern newspaper; this one 
was in effect an "Extra". The satire stung, and Luther 
was threatened with dire punishment by the furious arch- 
bishop and his friends; but he only laughed.] 



Notice has been given from all the pulpits along 
the Rhine, in the See of Mayence, that the Arch- 
bishop, for obvious reasons and under the prompting 
of the Holy Spirit, has transferred all the relics, blessed 
and sealed with mighty Roman pardons, graces and 
privileges, which his Grace formerly kept at Halle in 
Saxony, to St. Martin's church at Mayence. Here 
they are to be exposed with great solemnity once a year, 
on the Sunday next after St. Bartholomew's Day,:): 
with the announcement of the nature and blessed prop- 



fComp. also above, p. 113, note. 

^August 24. — So far the "news" was true. — The "ob- 
vious reasons" were that the Reformation had made such 
progress in Saxony that Halle had become an incongruous 
shrine for the Archbishop's relics as well as an uncom- 
fortable residence for their owner. Hence the removal. 



140 LUTHER PRIMER 

erty of each relic and of much forgiveness for man- 
ifold sins. This is done in order that the beloved sons 
of the Rhineland may be moved to clothe the poor 
naked bones with new garments. The coatsf they wore 
at Halle are in tatters, and if they had stayed there 
much longer they must have frozen to death. 

There is also a well founded rumor that his Grace 
has added to the lot a number of new and notable 
relics, never before heard of, for which a special and 
great indulgence has been obtained from the Most 
Holy Father, Pope Paul III, to wit: — 

1. A fine piece of Moses' left horn. 

2. Three flames from the burning bush on Mt. 
Horeb. 

3. Two feathers and an egg of the Holy Ghost. 

4. One whole corner of the banner with which 
Christ harrowed hell. 

5. A large wisp of Beelzebub's beard, which clung 
to said banner. 

6. Half a wing of St. Gabriel the Archangel. 

7. A full pound of the strong wind that rushed past 
Elijah in the cave on Mt. Horeb. 

8. Two yards of the noise of the trumpet on Mt. 
Sinai. 

9. Thirty thumpings of the timbrel of Miriam, the 
sister of Moses, heard by the Red Sea. 



fCloths of costly material, in which the relics were 
wrapped. 



THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE RHINE 141 

10. A huge chunk of the shout with which the chil- 
dren of Israel threw down the walls of Jericho. 

11. Five fine clear strings of David's harp. 

12. Three well-preserved locks of Absalom's hair 
by which he was caught in the oak. — This last, of 
course, is show^n not really as a relic but more as 
a curiosity, like Judas' halter in St. Peter's at Rome. 

A special good friend has told me confidentially that 
his Grace intends in his last will and testament to make 
over to this collection a whole dram of his faithful and 
pious heart and half an ounce of his veracious tongue. 
For these an indulgence has already been secured from 
the Most Holy Father, so that whoever venerates these 
relics to the tune of one gulden shall have all his past 
sins forgiven up to date, as well as all the sins he 
can commit or feels like committing for a period of 
ten years to come; none of them shall affect his salva- 
tion. 

This is indeed a great and rich grace, never befoie 
heard of, and should prove a source of much re- 
joicing to many. 



XXVIII 

Last Letters to Frau Kathe 

(February, 1546) 

[The last act in Luther's life was characteristic of him. 
It was a patriotic duty he undertook when, infirm and 
broken in health, he journeyed in midwinter to Eisleben, to 
arbitrate a quarrel of long standing between the Counts 
Mansfeld (see chap. xxi). His three sons accompanied 
him. His good wife was not the only one who was indig- 
nant at his being dragged, in his present state of health 
and at that season of the year, into a foolish squabble of 
princes. She was greatly concerned about her husband's 
health, and the outcome showed how well founded her 
fears were. But Luther, who kept in constant touch with 
her, chaffed her about her anxiety with what seems like a 
forced cheerfulness overlaying an untroubled faith and love, 
and bade her pray and trust in God. These last letters 
are precious documents, and show that he remained to the 
last the old Luther and Katie's "old lover".] 



I. {February I, 1546) 

I wish you grace and peace in Christ, and send you 
my poor, old, infirm love. I had a fainting spell, dear 
Katie, just before we got to Eisleben. It was my own 
fault, but if you had been here you would have blamed 
it on the Jews or on their God. For we had to pass 
through a village hard by Eisleben, where there are a 
good many Jews; besides, there are at present fifty 
Jews living in the city of Eisleben. Perhaps it was 
these Jews that sent so strong a wind against me. 
For as we came past the village, sure enough, a cold 
Hast came in at the rear of the wagon and beat upon 



LAST LETTERS TO FRAU KATHE 143 

my head through my cap, that it was like to turn my 
brain to ice. This may have helped to bring on my 
vertigo. But now, thank God, I feel right fit again. 
When I have finished my chief business here, I must 
set to work cleaning out the Jews! 

I have Neunburger beer to drink, of the selfsame 
brew you once praised so highly at Mansfeld. 

Your sons left for Mansfeld day before yesterday 
[to visit their uncle Jacob Luther; see 4], having been 
most humbly requested to do so by Hans of Jena.f I 
don't know what they are doing there. If it were 
cold, they could lend a hand at shivering; but as it is 
warm at present, they may be doing something else, or 
suffering it, as they please. God bless you, with the 
whole household. Give my regards to all my table 
companions [comp. xxiv, 1]. 

Your old lover, 

M. L. 



2. (February 7, 1546) 

To my dear wife Katherine Luther, doctoress and 
self-appointed martyr at Wittenberg, my gracious lady. 

Grace and peace in the Lord! Read, I pray you, 
dear Katie, the Gospel of St. John and the Small Cat- 
echism, of which latter book you once said everything in 
it referred to you. You must, forsooth, relieve 
God of all care and take it upon yourself, just as if 



fSee Smith: Life and Letters of Martin Luther, p. 419, 
note 1. 



144 LUTHER PRIMER 

He was not almighty and could not create a dozen 
Dr. Martins if the old one were to suffocate in the 
Saale, or dow T n the drain-pipe, or on Wolf's fowling- 
ground [see chap. xxvi]. 

Leave me in peace with your cares! I have One 
who cares for me better far than you and all the angels. 
He lies in a manger and hangs upon a. virgin's breast, 
but sits also on the right hand of God the Father 
Almighty. Therefore be of good cheer. Amen. 



3. {February 10, 1546) 

To the saintly and anxious Mistress Katherine Lu- 
ther, doctoress, owner of Zulsdorf, Wittenberg, my 
gracious dear wife. 

Grace and peace in Christ! Most holy lady doc- 
toress! Many thanks for your great anxiety that keeps 
you awake o' nights. Since you began to worry about 
us, we were almost burnt to death in a fire at our inn, 
just outside my chamber door. And yesterday, due 
no doubt to your anxiety, a great stone came near drop- 
ping on my head and crushing me like a mouse in a 
trap. ... Its purpose was to requite you for your holy 
care, but fortunately the dear angels protected me. 
I fear, if you do not stop worrying, the earth will swal- 
low us up and all the elements pursue us. Is it thus 
you learn the Catechism and the Creed? Pray, and 
let God do the worrying! For it is said in Psalm 



LAST LETTERS TO FRAU KATHE 145 

55:22 and in many other places: "Cast thy burden 
upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee." 

Thank God, we are well and hearty, except that 
we are growing intensely tired of this whole busi- 
ness. Dr. Jonas must needs have a sore leg, so he goes 
and knocks it against a chest. Great is the envy of 
man; he just couldn't bear to see me the sole pos- 
sessor of a lame leg. 

Herewith good-bye. We shall soon be ready, please 
God, to quit this place and journey homewards. Amen. 
Amen. Amen. 

Your Holiness' obedient servant, 

Martixus Luther. 



4. {February 14, 1546) 
[The last letter Luther ever wrote.] 

To my dear, kind wife, Katherine von Bora Lu- 
ther, Wittenberg. 

Grace and peace in the Lord ! Dear Katie, we 
hope, God willing, to return home this week. God 
has richly manifested His grace toward us here ; for 
the lords, through their councillors, have become rec- 
onciled in all but two or three points, one of which 
is that the two brethren, Counts Albert and Geb- 
hard, should again become brethren indeed. This 
I am going to take up with them to-day, inviting 
them to be my guests at dinner, so that they will be 
thrown into conversation with each other; for until 



146 LUTHER PRIMER 

now they have not spoken, but only embittered each 
other with letters. 

As for the rest, the young gentlemen are having a 
merry time, riding out together on sledges in cap and 
bells, and the young ladies also, getting up masquer- 
ades [it was the carnival season just before Lent] ; 
all jolly and in high spirits, including Count Gebhard's 
son. So we can see that God heareth prayer. 

I am sending some trout given me by Countess Al- 
bert. She is overjoyed at the reconciliation. Your boys 
are still at Mansfeld [see 1], where they will be 
well taken care of by Jacob Luther. We eat and 
drink like lords here, and they wait on us so royally 
they almost make us forget you at Wittenberg. Also, 
I am not troubled any more with the stone [one of 
Luther's many ailments]. Dr. Jonas's leg, however, 

has become right bad [see 3] but God will help 

him, too. You may show all of this to Magister 
Philip [Melanchthon], Dr. Pommer [Bugenhagen; 
see chap, xix] and Dr. Cruciger [professor at Witten- 
berg since 1528; a witness with the two others men- 
tioned here, to Luther's last will and testament, 1542; 
Hans Luther married his daughter Elizabeth in 1553]. 

A report has reached here from Leipzig and Madge- 
burg, that Dr. Martin Luther has been carried off 
[by the devil ?] ; that is the kind of thing your news- 
mongering countrymen are turning out. Some say the 
Emperor is within thirty miles of here, at Soest in 
Westphalia; some, that the French are raising troops, 



LAST LETTERS TO FRAU KATHE 147 

and that the Landgrave [Philip of Hessef] is doing 
the same. But let them say and sing on : we will wait 
and see what God will do. Good-bye. 

Dr. Martin Luther. 



fThe most consummate politician among the Protestant 
princes, who became the by no means innocent occasion 
of the one grave fault in Luther's career — his "confessional 
counsel" sanctioning the landgrave's bigamy. — See Boeh- 
mer: Luther in Light of Recent Research, p. 227-42. — It was 
this same prince who, in 1529, brought together the leaders 
of the Lutheran and Zwinglian parties in conference at Mar- 
burg, where it was no less the politics than the theology- 
involved that prompted Luther to say to Zwingli: "You 
have a different spirit." 



XXIX 
The Last Words of All 

(February 18, 1546) 

[Luther's death occurred at Eisleben, his birthplace, about 
2 o'clock on the morning of February 18, in his lodgings 
at the house of the town-clerk, John Albrecht; the immedi- 
ate cause of death was a stroke of apoplexy. The day be- 
fore, he had signed the treaty drawn up between the Counts 
Manfeld, thus completing his work as peacemaker be- 
tween the princely brothers. With him when he died were 
his two sons Martin and Paul (where Hans was, we do 
not know), two servants, Dr. Jonas, Aurifaber, the Mans- 
feld court-preacher Michael Colius, Count and Countess 
Albert, and the physicians. — See Strieder: Authentische 
Berichte iiber Luthers letzte Lebensstunden.'] 



(i) The Last Spoken Words 

Dr. Jonas, Colius and you others, pray for our Lord 
God and His Gospel, that it may prosper, for the 
Council of Trent and the wretched pope are wroth 
with it. 

O Lord God, what pain I suffer! Dear Jonas, 
I fear I shall remain here at Eisleben, where I was 
born and baptised. 

O my heavenly Father, God and Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, Thou God of all comfort: I thank 
Thee that Thou hast revealed to me Thy dear Son 
Jesus Christ, in whom I believe, whom I have pro- 
claimed and confessed, whom I have loved and praised, 
and whom the wretched pope and all the ungodly 
dishonor, persecute and blaspheme. 



THE LAST WORDS OF ALL 149 

To Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, I commend my 
poor soul [Seelchen]. O heavenly Father, though I 
must quit this body and be snatched out of this life, 
yet am I confident that I shall be forever with Thee, 
and that no one can pluck me out of Thy hands. 

God so loved the world, that He gave His only be- 
gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life [John 3:16; he 
said this three times, in Latin]. 

Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit: Thou 
has redeemed me, O Lord, God of Truth [Ps. 31:5; 
this also three times. As he w T as fast losing conscious- 
ness, Jonas and Colius asked him in a loud voice, 
"Reverend father, do you still abide by Christ 
and the doctrine you have preached?" to which he 
replied with a loud and distinct:] "Yes''. 



(2) The Last Written Words 
(February 16, 1546) 

[These were found on his writing table, after his death, — 
a little private meditation written in Latin. So he loved the 
classics, and above all the Word of God, to the end.] 



No one can understand Vergil's Bucolics [poems of 
the pastoral life] unless he has spent five years as a 
shepherd. 

No one can understand Vergil's Georgics [poems of 
the agricultural life] unless he has spent five years as a 
tiller of the soil. 



150 LUTHER PRIMER 

No one can fully understand Cicero's Letters unless 
he has spent twenty-five years in the public affairs of 
the state. 

Let no one imagine he has sufficiently tasted the 
Holy Scriptures unless he has spent a hundred years 
ruling the churches with prophets like Elijah and Eli- 
shah, John Baptist, Christ, and the Apostles. 

Lay not thy hand on this divine Aeneid, but humbly 
adore the footsteps of God [a reminiscence from the 
ThebaiSj a Latin epic by Statius, a Roman poet of the 
first century]. 

We are beggars. That is the truth. 

February 16, A. D. 1546. 



APPENDIX I 

Chronological Survey of Luther's Life 
and Work 

1483 November 10, born at Eisleben; parents, Hans Lu- 

ther (miner) and Margaret, nee Ziegler. 
November 11, baptised in SS. Peter and Paul's 
church, and named Martin after the saint 
whose day it was. 

1484-97 At Mansfeld, whither the family had moved. 

H97-98 At the school of the Brethren of the Common 
Life, in Madgeburg. 

1498-01 At St. George's school, Eisenach; the singing 
scholar is received by Lady Ursula Cotta into 
her cultured home. 

1 501 About May, matriculated at University of Erfurt. 

1502 Takes degree of Bachelor of Arts. 
1505 Master of Arts. 

1505 July 12, suddenly enters Augustinian monastery at 

Erfurt, to the disgust of his father. 

1507 Spring, ordained to priesthood; Mav 2. reads his» 

first mass. 

1508 About November, called to teach Aristotle's ethics 

and logic at University of Wittenberg (founded 
1502). 

1509 March 9, Bachelor of Theology. 

1509 Autumn, called back to Erfurt to teach dogmatics. 

1510-11 Journey to Rome in the interest of his order; 
December spent in holy city. 

1511 Summer, returns to Wittenberg; lectures on Bible. 

1 5 12 October 18, Doctor of Theology. 

1515 May, elected District-vicar of Augustinian order. 
Called by City Council as associate pastor of City- 
church. 

1516 Edits and publishes the mystical German Theol- 

ogy (comp. chap, ii, introduction). 

15 17 October 31, posts the XCV Theses, against the 

abuse of indulgences, on door of Castle-church 
at Wittenberg (chap. iii). 

1518 Interview with Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg. 

1519 Interview with the papal nuncio Miltitz at Alten- 

burg. 



1 5^ LUTHER PRIMER 

1 5 1 9 July 4-14, debate with John Eck at Leipzig. 

1520 June 15, Leo X signs the bull Exsurge Domine, 

threatening Luther with excommunication un- 
less he recants within 60 days. 

1520 August, Luther publishes An Open Letter to the 

Christian Nobility of the German Nation, con- 
cerning the Reform of the Christian Estate 
(chap. v). 

October, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church 
(chap. vi). 

November, The Liberty of a Christian Man 
(chap. vii). 

December 10, Luther burns the papal bull and 
formally breaks with Rome (chap. viii). 

1521 January 3, Luther is formally excommunicated 

and put under the ban. 

1521 April 17, 18, Luther appears before the Diet of 

Worms (chap. ix). 
May 4-March 1, 1522, at the Wartburg, disguised 
as Squire George. Writes On Monastic Vows, 
completes Magnificat, works on Church Postil, 
and translates New Testament (chaps, x and 
xii). 

1522 Invocavit to Reminiscere, preaches remarkable se- 

ries of sermons, allaying the Wittenberg revo- 
lution of Carlstadt and others (chap. xiv). 
September, publication of The New Testament in 
German (chap. x). 
1523-6 Publishes Of Secular Government (chap, xv), and 
a group of writings looking to the reform of 
the organization and worship of the Church 
(chaps, xvi-xviii). 

1524 Writes on Christian Schools (chap. xx). 
Lays off his Augustinian monk's habit. 

1525 Writes against* the Peasants' Uprising (comp. 

chap. xxi). 

June 13, marries Katherine von Bora (born, Jan. 
29, 1499 ; entered Cistercian cloister at Nimbsch, 
1508 or 1509; took the veil, 1515, left the 
cloister, April 4-5, 1523) (chaps, xxi and 
xxviii). 

Writes On the Bound Will, against Erasmus. 

1526 June 7, Hans Luther born (see chaps, xix and 

and xxiv, 2). 

1527 July, severe illness of Luther. 
December 10, Elizabeth Luther born. 



APPENDIX I 153 

1527-8 Visitation of churches and schools in Saxony. 

1528 August 3, Elizabeth Luther dies. 

Ein Feste Burg (first published; probably com- 
posed as early as 1521) (comp. chap. xix). 

1529 Small and Large Catechisms (chap. xxii). 
May 3, Magdalena Luther born. 

October 2, conference with Zwingli and others, 
at Marburg. 

1530 April 23-October 4, at Castle Coburg, during 

Diet of Augsburg (chaps, xii, xxiv and xxv). 
May 29, Luther's father dies (chap, xxiii). 

1 53 1 June 30, Luther's mother dies. 
November 9, Martin Luther, Jr. born. 

1532 February 4, the Black Cloister is deeded to Lu- 

ther and his heirs. 

1533 January 28, Paul Luther born. 

1534 Publication of Complete German Bible (chaps. 

xi and xii). 
December 17, Margaret Luther born. 

1535 November 7, the papal legate at Wittenberg, in 

conference with Luther concerning a free coun- 
cil. 

1536 January to April, conferences between the Wit- 

tenberg theologians and an English delegation 
sent by Henry VIII. 
May 29, The Wittenberg Concord signed by Lu- 
ther and Swiss theologians. 

1537 February, Luther goes to congress of Schmal- 

kalden; serious illness. 
February 27, makes his first will. 

1538 The Schmalkald Articles published (comp. chap. 

xxii, introduction). 

1539 May, Luther goes to Leipzig to introduce Refor- 

mation into Albertine Saxony. 

December 10, Luther signs the "confessional coun- 
sel", permitting Philip of Hesse to take a sec- 
ond wife. 

Writes preface to his German Works (chap, r, 1). 

1540 January and February, Katherine Luther very ill. 
June, Luther prays Melanchthon back to life 

(comp. chap, iv, introduction). 
1542 January 6, Luther's second will (como. p. 146). 

September 20, Magdalena Luther dies (comp. 
chap, xix).* 



154 LUTHER PRIMER 

1545 Last revised edition of German Bible during Lu- 

ther's life (comp. chap, xi, introduction). 
Writes preface to his Complete Works (chap. 

i, 2). 
Last lecture at University, completing his "dear 

Genesis." 

1546 February 18, Luther dies at Eisleben ; February 

22, buried under chancel of Castle-church in 
Wittenberg (chap. xxix). 
1552 December 2, Katherine Luther dies. 



APPENDIX II 
Reading and Reference List 

[There is, of course, no attempt to be exhaustive. Only 
such works as bear more or less directly on the contents 
of this volume, and only some of these, are included. Lu- 
ther's own works are listed somewhat more fully, for the 
sake of reference. It is suggested that members of study 
classes using the Primer see that certain of these books are 
found in a near-by library, where they can be consulted by 
the class. The individual reader will find among these 
titles a number he may like to add to his own library.] 



i. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL 

Kieffer-Rockwell-Pannkoke: List of References on the 
History of the Reformation in Germany. White Plains and 
New York City: 1917. [Brought out by the Reformation 
Quadricentenary Committee of New York City.] 

M. Reu : Thirty-Five Years of Luther Research. Lu- 
theran Church Review, Nov., 1916 and Feb., 1917. [To 
be published in book form, Chicago: 1917.] 

A. R. Wentz: Martin Luther in the Changing Light of 
Four Centuries. Reprinted from the Lutheran Quarterly, 
January, 1917. 

2. WORKS OF LUTHER 

Works of Martin Luther, with Introductions and Notes. 
2 vols. Philadelphia: 1915. [A modern English transla- 
tion of Luther's most important writings, based on the best 
texts and equipped with historical introductions, explana- 
tory notes and full bibliographies. To be completed in 10 
vols.] 

The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, 
ed. by J. N. Lenker. Minneapolis: 1903 — . [14 vols, have 
thus far appeared, containing translations from the com- 
mentaries, sermons and catechetical writings.] 

Dr. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe. 
Weimar: 1883 — ■ [The monumental Weimar edition, spon- 
sored by the German Emperor; not yet completed; thus 
far 51 vols.] 



156 LUTHER PRIMER 

Martin Luthers samtliche Werke. 67 vols, of the German, 
38 of the Latin writings. Erlangen: 1826-86. [The so-called 
Erlangen edition.] 

Luthers samtliche Werke, herausgegeben von J. G. Walch. 
24 vols. Halle: 1740-53. Neue revidierte Stereotypausgabe. 
23 vols. St. Louis, Mo.: 1880-1910. 

Luthers Werke. 10 vols. 3. ed. Berlin: 1905. [The so- 
called Berlin edition, edited by Buchwald, Kawerau and 
others, for the German people.] 

Luthers Werke in Auswahl, ed. by O. Clemen. 4 vols. 
Bonn: 1912-13. [A students' edition; a fifth vol. is prom- 
ised.] 

Martin Luther. Ausgewahlte Werke, ed. by H. Borcherdt. 
Vol. ii (appeared first). Munchen and Leipzig: 1914. [A 
de luxe edition to be completed in 15 vols. Vol. ii contains 
a valuable historical introduction by KalkofL] 

Rich. Neubauer: Martin Luther. Eine Auswahl aus 
seinen Schriften in alter Sprachform. 2 vols. Revised ed. 
Halle: 1907-8. [Presents Luther as German classic, with 
particular attention to the linguistic side.] 

J. Ficker: Anfange reformatorischer Bibelauslegung. Vol. 
i in 2 parts (Luthers Vorlesung iiber den Romerbrief 1515- 
16). Leipzig: 1908. [The long lost lectures on Romans.] 

Wace and Buchheim: Luther's Primary Works. 1 vol. 
London and Philadelphia: 1896. 

Jul. Bohmer: Luthers Werke in einem Band. Fur das 
Volk bearbeitet. Stuttgart: 1907. 

G. Buchwald: Lutherlesebuch fur das evangelische Volk. 
Hamburg: 1905. 

G. Buchwald: So spricht Dr. Martin Luther. Worte aus 
Luthers Schriften ausgewahlt und geordnet. Berlin: 1903. 

W. Schrank: Lutherbuch. Leipzig: 1913. [See above, 
p. v.] 

J. Sander: Devotional Readings from Luther's Works. 
Rock Island, 111.: 1915. 

Letters 

Margaret A. Currie: The Letters of Martin Luther. Lon- 
don and New York: 1908. [A sprightly and idiomatic but 
exceedingly inaccurate rendering of 500 letters.] 

Preserved Smith: Luther's Correspondence and Other 
Contemporary Letters. Vol. i (1507-21). Philadelphia: 



APPENDIX II 157 

191 3. [A copiously annotated translation of practically all 
available letters of, to, and about Luther; to be completed 
in 2 additional vols., edited in conjunction with C. M. 
Jacobs; vol. ii (1521-30) will appear in the fall of 1917.] 

E. L. Enders: Dr. Martin Luthers Brief wechsel. Frank- 
furt a. M.: 1884 — . [In charge of G. Kawerau from vol. 
xi on; so far 15 vols, have appeared, carrying the cor- 
respondence to 1544.] 

R. Buchwald: Martin Luthers Brief e in Auswahl. 2 
vols. Leipzig: 1909. [An edition de luxe of a selection 
of German letters and of Latin letters admirably rendered 
into German.] 

H. Preuss: Deutsche* Lutherbriefe, ausgewahlt und er- 
lanitert. Leipzig: 1912. 

Table Talk 

Smith and Gallinger: Conversations with Luther. New 
York: 1915. [Good translations from more recently pub- 
lished sources, with valuable introduction.] 

W. Hazlitt: The Table Talk or Familiar Discourse of 
Martin Luther. London: 1848. [Based on the older uncrit- 
ical texts and inaccurate, but charming to read on account 
of its pleasant English style.] 

3. LIVES 

A. C. McGiffert: Martin Luther: The Man and his 
Work. New York: 1911. [A magazine serial; the most 
readable life in English.] 

Preserved Smith: The Life and Letters of Martin Lu- 
ther. Boston: 1911. [The most scholarly and up-to-date; 
the 2. ed. (1914) has a new preface, applying the mod- 
ern theory of psycho-analysis to Luther's development.] 

H. E. Jacobs: Martin Luther, the Hero of the Reforma- 
tion. New York: 1898. [The best Lutheran life in Eng- 
lish.] 

T. M. Lindsay: Luther and the German Reformation. 
New York: 1900. [Good brief account.] 

C. Beard: Martin Luther and the Reformation in Ger- 
many until the close of the Diet of Worms. London: 1889. 
[Good portrayal of the early Luther.] 

H. Bohmer: Luther im Lichte der neueren Forschung. 3. 
ed. Leipzig: 1914. [Translated by C. F. Huth: Luther in 



158 LUTHER PRIMER 

the Light of Recent Research. New York: 1916. A bright 
and authoritative summary of the most recent results of Lu- 
ther scholarship; an indispensable supplement to all older 
lives.] 

J. Kostlin: Martin Luther, sein Leben und seine Schriften. 
5. ed., prepared by Kawerau. 2 vols. Berlin: 1903. [The 
most complete life, with full synopses of Luther's writ- 
ings. An English translation of Kostlin's briefer and more 
popular biography is published by Scribner, New York: 
1884.] 

A. Hausrath: Luthers Leben. 3. ed. 2 vols. Berlin: 
1914-15. [The most brilliant life.] 

T. Kolde: Martin Luther. 2 vols. Gotha: 1884-93. 
[Luther against the background of German development.] 

A. Berger: Martin Luther in kulturgeschichtlicher Dar- 
stellung. 2 vols. Berlin: 1895-98. [Luther in the history 
of German civilization; incomplete, reaching only to 1532.] 

G. Buchwald: Doktor Martin Luther. Ein Lebensbild 
fur das deutsche Haus. 2. ed. Leipzig and Berlin: 1914. 
[The best popular life in German.] 

O. Scheel: Martin Luther. Vom Katholizismus zur Ref- 
ormation. Vol. i (Auf der Schule und Universitat). Tu- 
bingen: 1916. [The most recent German biography; has 
not yet reached America; vol. ii was promised by 1917. The 
first volume traces Luther's development up to his en- 
trance into the monastery, July 17, 1505.] 

Popular 

Elsie Singmaster: Martin Luther. The Story of his Life. 
Boston: 1917. 

M. Reu: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther Sketched for 
Young People's Societies. Chicago: 1917. [Translated by 
E. H. Rausch; a new ed. of the original is in preparation, 
with some 90 illustrations, many of them new.] 

Margaret R. Seebach: Martin of Mansfeld. Philadel- 
phia: 1916. [For children.] 

4. HISTORICAL 

Cambridge Modern History. Vols, i (The Renaissance) 
and ii (The Reformation). New York: 1907-12. 

G. V. Jourdan: The Movement toward Catholic Re- 
form in the Early Sixteenth Century. London: 1914; New 
York: 1916 



APPENDIX II I59 

E. M. Hulme: The Renaissance, the Protestant Revolu- 
tion, and the Catholic Reformation in Central Europe. New 
York: 191 5. 

G. Kriiger: The Papacy. New York: 1909. [Translation.] 
T. M. Lindsay: History of the Reformation. 2 vols. 
New York: 1906-7. 

W. Walker: The Protestant Reformation. New York: 
1900. [In "Ten Epochs of Church History."] 

T. Brieger: Die Reformation. Leipzig: 1914. 

H. E. Jacobs: The Lutheran Movement in England. 
Philadelphia: 1894. 

F. Uhlhorn: Geschichte der deutsch-lutherischen Kirche. 
2 vols. (1517-1910). Leipzig: 1911. 

J. L. Neve: A Brief History of the Lutheran Church in 
America. 2. ed. Burlington, la.: 1916. 

5. DOCTRINAL 

R. Seeberg: Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte. 2. and 3. 
ed. Vol. iii (Die Dogmengeschichte des Mittelalters), Leip- 
zig: 1913. And vol. ii of 1. ed. (Die Dogmengeschichte 
des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit), Erlangen and Leipzig: 
1898. 

Kostlin-Hay: Theology of Luther. 2 vols. Philadel- 
phia: 1897. [A second, thoroughly revised edition of the 
original appeared in 1901.] 

W. Walther: Die christliche Sittlichkeit nach Luther. 
Leipzig: 1909. 

P. Tschackert: Entstehung der lutherischen und der 
reformierten Kirchenlehre. Tubingen: 1910. 

O. Ritschl : Dogmengeschichte des Protestantismus. 2 
vols. Leipzig: 1908-12. 

C. P. Krauth: The Conservative Reformation and its 
Theology. Philadelphia: 1872. 

J. W. Richard: Confessional History of the Lutheran 
Church. Philadelphia: 1909. 

H. E. Jacobs: The Book of Concord. 2 vols. Philadel- 
phia: 1882-3. [A "People's Edition" of vol. i appeared in 
1912.] 

J. L. Neve: The Augsburg Confession. Philadelphia: 
1914. 

J. B. Remensnyder: The Lutheran Manual. 4. ed. Phil- 
adelphia: 1916. 



l6o LUTHER PRIMER 

6. ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES 

Hauck: Realencyklopadie fur protestantische Theologie 
und Kirche. 24 vols. 3. ed. Leipzig: 1896-1913. 

Schaff-Herzog: New Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowl- 
edge. 13 vols. New York: 1908-14. [The English equiva- 
lent (?) of the preceding.] 

Jacobs-Haas: The Lutheran Cyclopedia. 1 vol. New 
York: 1899. 

The Catholic Encyclopedia. 15 vols. New York: 1907- 
14. [Indispensable for all specifically Catholic matters.] 
Cyclopedia of Education. 5 vols. New York: 1912-13. 
Hastings: Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. 
Encyclopedia Britannica. 

7. LUTHER IN FICTION 

Mrs. A. Charles: Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta 
Family. 

W. S. Davis: The Friar of Wittenberg. 

Marie E. Richard: The Knight in Grey. 

Schmidt-Schuh : Through Luther to Liberty. 

Wildenhahn-Morris: The Blind Girl of Wittenberg. 
[Juvenile.] 

Stein-Ireland: Prince Albrecht of Brandenburg. [Ju- 
venile.] 

8. MONOGRAPHS AND ARTICLES 

C. Porta: Pastorale Lutheri. Jena: 1582. [A German 
thesaurus of Luther's teachings in pastoral theology, in- 
valuable to all pastors.] 

Nebe-Hay: Luther as Spiritual Adviser. Philadelphia: 
1894. 

F. V. N. Painter: Luther on Education. Philadelphia: 
1889. 

M. Reu: The Significance of Luther's Small Catechism. 
Lutheran Church Review, xxxiii, 296*?. (1914). Also, Lu- 
ther the Father of Bible History as well as of the Cate- 
chism, ibid., xxv, 259ft. (1906). 

L. H. Waring: The Political Theories of Martin Lu- 
ther. New York: 1910. 



APPENDIX II 1 61. 

J. C. Mattes: Luther's Attitude in the Peasants' Revolt. 
Luth. Church Rev., xxxv, noff. (1916). 

H. Meltzer: Luther als deutscher Mann. Tubingen: 1905. 
H. Hering: Die Mystik Luthers. Leipzig: 1879. 

E. Greenwald: The Piety of Luther. Luth. Church 
Rev., iii, 26ff. (1884). 

C. E. Kistler: Luther's Prayers. Reading, Pa.: 1917. 
[Translation.] 

A. T. W. Steinhaeuser: Luther as a Preacher. Luth. 
Church Rev., xxxv, 336ff. (1916). 

J. G. Morris: Luther as a Pulpit Orator. Evangelical 
Review, ix, 486ff. (1858). 

A. Leitzmann: Luthers geistliche Lieder. Bonn: 1907. 

J. F. Lambert: Luther's Hymns. Philadelphia: 1917. 

A. Risch: Die deutsche Bibel. Berlin: 1907. 

J. P. Hentz: History of the Lutheran Version of the 
Bible. Columbus, O. : 1910. [Inaccurate.] 

L. F. Gruber: Luther and Tyndale's New Testament of 
1525. Luth. Church Rev., xxxv, 6i4fL (1916) ; xxxvi, 
259ff. (1917). 

A. W. Pollard: Records of the English Bible. Oxford: 
1911. 

Stein-Enders: Katharine von Bora. Philadelphia: 1890. 
J. W. Richard: Philip Melanchthon, the Protestant Pre- 
ceptor of Germany. New York: 1898. 

J. Stump: The Life of Philip Melanchthon. Reading, 
Pa.: 1897. 

E. Emerton: Desiderius Erasmus, the Humanist in the 
Service of the Reformation. New York: 1898. 

J. A. Froude: Life and Letters of Erasmus. New York: 
J899. 

F. Seebohm: The Oxford Reformers of 1498. Rev. ed. 
London: 1869. [Reprinted in "Everyman's Library."] 

S. M. Jackson: Ulrich Zwingli, the Reformer of German 
Switzerland. 2. ed. New York: 1903. 

Leaders of the Lutheran Reformation. Philadelphia: 
1917. [A series of popular biographical sketches by va- 
rious writers.] 

W. Walther: Zur Wertung der deutschen Reformation. 
Leipzig: 1909. [Contains two especially noteworthy arti- 



l62 LUTHER PRIMER 

cles: Luthers Bibeliibersetzung kein Plagiat; and, Die 
Schweitzer Taktik gegen Luther im Sakramentsstreit.] 

W. Ebstein: Martin Luthers Krankheiten. Stuttgart: 1910. 

A. Spaeth: An Original Account of Luther's Death Re- 
cently Discovered in the Krauth Memorial Library. .Lath. 
Church Rev., xxix, 3 13ft. (1910). 

J. Strieder: Authentische Berichte iiber Luthers letzte 
Lebensstunden. Bonn: 1912. 

W. Walther: Fur Luther wider Rom. Halle: 1906. [A 
defense of Luther against Roman Catholic calumniators.] 

W. N. Harley: Little Journeys with Martin Luther. To- 
ledo, O.: 1916. [A pleasant satire, portraying Luther re- 
divivus applying for admission to various American Lu- 
theran synods.] 

Four Hundred Years. Commemorative Essays on the 
Reformation of Dr. Martin Luther and its blessed Results. 
Edited by W. H. T. Dau. St. Louis, Mo.: 1916. 

H. Bezzel: Why we Love Luther. [Translated in Amer- 
ican Lutheran Survey, 1915.] 

W. Walther: Luthers Charakter. Leipzig: 1917. 

H. Preuss: Unser Luther. Eine Jubilaumsgabe der A 11- 
gemeinen Evangelisch-lutherischen Konferenz. Leipzig: 1917. 



INDEX 



ABRAHAM, 23 

Absalom, 141 

Abuses, to be discussed in councils, 256*. 

Acts, of the saints, 67 

Adam, the old, 63 

Aeneid, 150 

Aesop, 132ft. 

Africa, 2 

Albert, Count Mansfeld, 113, 145, 148; Countess, 146 

148 
Albrecht, John, 148; Archbishop of Mayence, 113, 139 
All Saints', 8 
A Mighty Fortress, 98 
Amsdorf, Nicholas, 57, 79, 99 
Angels, 119, 144 
Annas, 64 
Antichrist, 4, 24ff. 
Antiphons, 92, 94 
Anxiety, 75, 143L 
Apes, 27, 57 
Apocrypha, 66 
Apoplexy, 148 
Apostle, 64, 88f., 91, 150 
Apostolic, 64 
Argument, logical, 55 
Arithmetic, no 
Arnstadt, 5 
Arts, 97, 107, no 
Ass, Balaam's, 23 
Astronomy, no 

Augsburg, 29, 51; Confession, 127; Diet of, i22f., 127 
Augustine, 2 



164 INDEX 

Augustinian brother, 5; order, 51 

Auntie Lena, 98, 121, i26f. 

Aurifaber, Christian, see Doring, John, 148 

Aurogallus, 70 

Authority, 24, 37, 76; Luther's, 128 

BABYLON, 27, 32 

Balaam, 23 

Ban, 24, 54 

Baptism, 19, 31, 35ff., 89 

Bavaria, Dukes of, 129 

Beelzebub, 140 

Beer, Wittenberg, 79 ; Neunburger, 148 

Beggars, 150 

Begging, 28 

Bible, iff.; German, 66, 107; miniature, 66\ Ro- 
man, 8 

Bigamy of Landgrave, 147 

Birds, Complaint of the, 136ft. ; congress of, i22ff. 

Black Bear Inn, 59 

Black Cloister, 98, 136 

Book of Concord, 114 

Books, the best, in the New Testament, 62 

Booksellers, 32 

Bora, Katherine von, see Luther, Katherine ; Magdalena 
von, see Auntie Lena 

Borna, 77 

Boswell, 122 

Boys and Girls, Schools for, 103ft. 

Bread, the, 33ft.; daily, 14, 16; supersubstantial, 14 

Brief Explanation of the Ten Commandments, etc., 114 

Brother-in-law, Luther's, 112 

Bucolics, Vergil's, 149 

Bugenhagen, John, 99, in, 146 

Bull, 38; burnnig of the, 5if. 

Bulletin board, 8 



INDEX 165 

CAJETAN, 51 

Call, to preach, 20, 88; Luther's, -to Wittenberg, 51 

Calvin, John, 114 

Campanius, John, 114 

Canon law, 21 

Captivity, The Babylonian, of the Church, 3 iff. 

Cardinals, 26f. 

Carlstadt, Andrew, 78 

Castle-church, 8 

Catechism, ii4ff., i43f. ; Preface to the Small, ii5ff. 

Chants, 90, 93f. 

Charles V, 17, 52, 54, 146 

Children, 106, 108, 125; Luther's, in 

Christ, iff.; advocate with the Father, 119; crucified, 
6; kingdom of, 7, 64; Luther's Gospel received 
through, 73; our reward, 117; righteousness of, 
5f., 22; should not be made a Moses, 62; what- 
ever proclaims, 64 

Christians indeed, 49 

Christmastide, A Children's Hymn for, 98ff. 

Christmas tree, 99 

Church, 18, 20, 23, 68, 129 

Church Postil, 59 

Cicero, 68 

City-church, 8 

City-council, 57, 78 

Classics, 103, 105, 149 

Coat of arms, Luther's, 122, i29ff. 

i3if. 



ii4ff. 



Coburg, 


69, 11 


8, 122, 


Colius, Michael, 


i48f. 


Collects, 


94 




Cologne, 


53 




Commanc 


Iments, 


Ten, 


Commentaries, 


no 


Common 


man, 


72 


Common 


people 


, 115 


Commonplaces, 


128 



l66 INDEX 

Common Service Book, 90 

Complaint of the Bircjs, 136*1*. 

Confessional counsel, 147 

Confessionalia, 9 

Confession, Augsburg, 127 

Confessions, Lutheran, 35, 114 

Confirmation, 31 

Congregation, Christian, the certain mark of a, 87; The 

Right of a, to Call its own Pastor, 871!. 
Conscience, captive in the Word, 56 ; certainty of, i4f. ; 

weak, 78 
Contrition, 9 
Councillors, 86, 112 
Councilmen, i03ff. 
Councils, if., 18, 23, 25, 55 
Court-fools, 133 
Cowardice, 74 
Cranach, Lucas, 54, 56f., 60 
Creed, Apostles', 23, ii4n\, 144 
Critics, of Luther's Bible translation, 70 
Cross, 11; black, 130; festivals of the, 94 
Crown, the pope's triple, 25 
CrucifiXj 80 

Cruciger, Caspar, 146 ; Elizabeth, 146 
Cup, withholding of the, 33L 
Curia, 17, 27, 32 
Cyriac, see Kaufmann 

DAVID, 61, 141 

Death, of Christ, 6if. ; of Hans Luther, sr., n8ff. ; of 

Martin Luther, 113, 148; foreboding of his, 112; 

of his mother, 118; of his servant Wolf, 136 
Decrees, 18, 20 
Decretals, 2 
Delaware Indians, 114 
Deutsche Messe, 90 
Devil, 4, 25, 61, 71, 74, 104, 109, 146 



INDEX 167 

Diet, of Augsburg, i22f., 127; of the Birds, 123L; at 

Worms, 54ff. 
Dietrich, Veit, 118, 122 
Doctors, 1 
Doctrine, 17, 115 

Dogmatic, the first Protestant, 128 
Doring, Christian, 57 
Dominican, 8 
Donkey, 7off. 
Dress, 29 
Drinking, excess in, 29; health, 112 

EASTERDAY, 57 

Eating, excess in, 29 

Eck, John, 32 

Economics, 18 

Education, see Schools 

Egypt, 129 

Eisenach, 54. 

Eisleben, 142, 148 

Elector, see Frederick the Wise 

Elijah, 140, 150 

Elishah, 150 

Elster Gate, 51 

Emperor, see Charles V; of the birds, 123 

Employers, 116 

Emser, Jerome, 32 

England, 114 

Ephesians, Epistle to the, 63 

Erasmus, Desiderius, 59 

Erfurt, 54 

Ethics, 17 

Excommunication, 5 if. 

Extreme unction, 31 

FABLES, Aesop's, 132**". 
Fair, 105, 125 



I 68 INDEX 

Faith, 19, 35, 4 iff., 46, 63 f., 75, 1291. 

Fanatics, 78 

Fasting, 37, 45 

Father, Our, 13; A Loving Son to his Sick, n8ff. 

Fathers, if. 

Feldkirch, Licentiate, 57 

Ferdinand, King, 129 

Flax, 29 

Flesh, 46 

Folklore, German, 132 

Formula Missae, 90 

France, 27, in 

Frankfort, 55, 58 

Frau Kathe, see Luther, Katherine 

Frederick the Wise, 52, 54, 73, 78 

French, the, 146 

Friars, 31 

From Far-ofF Heaven, 98, iooff. 

Fuggers, the, 29 

GABRIEL, St., 140 

Galatians, Epistle to the, 63 

Gebhard, Count Mansfeld, 113, i4*5f. 

Geistliches Gesangbuchlein, 96 

Geometry, no 

George, Duke of Saxony, 56, 74, 77 

Georgics, Vergil's, 149 

German, Bible, 66 f 107; language, 69L, 109; literature, 
59; Luther the, 17, 31; Psalter, 68; Theol- 
ogy, 5 ; Work of Luther, 1, 39 

Germans, the, 26, 57, 105, 107 

Germany, 8, 17, 26, 103, 105 

Girls, at school, 109 

Goliath, 61 

Good Friday, 57 

Gospel, 10, 19, 41, 6if., 74, 78, 87f., 104, io7f. 

Gossip, 56 ^ 



INDEX 169 

Government, secular, i8ff., 24, 76, 116; is divine, 83; 

extent of, 84; see Powers that Be 
Grammar, no 
Greece, 105 

Greek, commentaries, no; language, 107, 109 
Gruboc, 131 

HALLfc, i 39 f. 

Hangmen, 84 

Hans, of Jena, see Jena; Luther, see Luther, Hans. 

Harlequin, 138 

Hebrew, commentaries, no; language, 107, 109 

Hell, 140; gates of, 55 

Henry VIII, 31 

Heresy, 33, 85 

Heretic, 38 

Heretical, 51 

Herod, 38, 64, 84 

Hesse, Philip of, 147 

Hilary, Bishop, 125 

Hippo, 2 

History, 18, no 

Holy Spirit, 22, 63, 66, 108 ; feathers and eggs of, 140 

Horeb, Mt., 140 

Horns, Luther's answer without, 55 

Hosea, 41 

House of God, 87 

Humor, 136 

Hutten, Ulrich von, 79 

Hymn Book, The First Protestant, 96L 

Hymns, Luther's, 96, 98; Spengler's, 130 

Hypocrisy, 18 

IDIOM, 72 

Illness, Luther's, 54, i42f., i45f., 148 

Images, 8of. 

Immersion, 36 



17c :ndex 

Inconsistency, Luther's, 3 

Indians, Delaware, 114 

Indulgences, 3, 8ff., 104, 1401". 

Infallibility, papal, 22 

Ingratitude, 105 

Institutes, Calvin's, 114 

Invitation to a Wedding Feast, 11 iff. 

Invocavit Sunday, 78 

Israel, 129, 141 

Italy, 26 

JACK, Little, see Luther, Hans, jr. 

James, Epistle of, 63 

Jena, 59; Hans of, 143 

Jericho, 18, 141 

Jews, 57, i42f. 

John Baptist, 1, 150; feast of, 95, n. 

John Frederick, Prince, 129 

John of Saxony, Duke, 85 

John, St., First Epistle of, 63 ; Gospel of, 62f., 143 ; 

Revelation of, 65 
Job, 70 

Jonas, Justus, 99, i45f., i48f . ; Justy (Jost), 100, 126 
Judas, 64; halter of, 141 
Jueterbog, 8 
Jurisprudence, no 
Justification, 5f., 42ff. 

KATIE, see Luther, Katherine 
Kaufmann, Cyriac, 119, 122, 125 
Keys, 22 

Kings, all Christians are, 43ff. 
Kirchenlied, 98 

LANGUAGES, io7f. 

Latin, Church, 105; commentaries, no; language, 72, 



INDEX 171 

107, 109; schoolbooks, 108; Works of Luther, 1, 

3*i 39 

Last Day, 3, 291"., 52, 88 

Law, 37, 42, 6off., 78 

Leipzig, 74, 146 

Leisnig, 90 

Leo X, 39, 54 

Lesson, Scripture, 92f. 

Letters, Luther's, 5, 59, 73 ; of pardon, 9L ; Open, to the 
Christian Nobility, i7fL ; to Cranach, 56ff. ; to 
his Father, n8ff. ; to Frederick the Wise, 73 fL ; 
to Little Hans, i24ff . ; to Frau Kathe, 142ft . ; to 
Melanchthon, i27ff. ; to a Monk, 5ff. ; to Ruhl 
and others, inff. ; to Spalatin, 54f . ; to Spen- 
gler, i29fL ; to Staupitz, 5iff. ; to his Table 
Companions, i22ff. ; to an unknown correspon- 
dent, 69; to Wolf, i36ff. 

Liberty, abused, 115; of the baptised, 37; of a Chris- 
tian man, 39ff. ; of the Church, 32; religious, 
distorted, in 

Libraries, 1, i09f. 

Lily of Christ, 7 

Lincoln, Abraham, 132 

Literal sense of Scripture, 34 

Loci communes, 128 

Logic, no 

Lord, the Christian a free, 39ff. 

Lord's Supper, 3if., 33rf., nsff. ; in both kinds, 32, 78, 81 

Louvain, 53 

Love ditties, 97 

Luke, St., 33, 63 

Lute, 96, 98 

Luther, Hans, jr., 99L, i2if., i24ff., 146, 148; Hans, sr., 
112, n8ff., 124; Jacob, 118, 143, 146; Kather- 
ine, 98, in, 113, n8f., 121, i42ff., 152; Magda- 



172 INDEX 

lena, ioof., 121; Martin, jr., ioof., 148; Paul, 
98, 102, 148 
Lying, 18 

MACHIAVELLI, 86 

Magdeburg, 146 

Magistrates, 106 

Magnificat, Exposition of the, 59 

Man, of God, 17; twofold nature of a Christian, 40 

Mansfeld, ii2f., 118, 121, 143, 146; Counts, 142, 148 

Marburg, 147 

Mark, St., 33, 63 

Marriage, 31; Luther's, 11 if. 

Marshall, Goodly Primer, 114 

Martha, 95 

Mary, of Bethany, 95 ; festivals of the Virgin, 94f. 

Masquerades, 146 

Mass, 34L, 89, 93; daily, 94 

Matin service, 91 

Matthew, St., 33, 63 

Mayence, 53; Archbishop of, 113, 139 

Medicine, no 

Meditation, 13 

Melanchthon, Philip, 13, 51, 59, 70, 78f., 99, ii4f., 122, 

127, 132, 146; Phil. (Lippus), 100, 126 
Mendicants, 104 
Middle Ages, 18 
Miriam, 140 
Missionary, 114 
Monasteries, 26, 88, 103 
Monastic Vows, On, 59 
Monks, 21, 91; Letter to a, 5ff. 
Moses, 59, 62, 97, 129, 140 
Mother Goose, 114 
Miiller, Caspar, 112 
Muhme Lene, see Auntie Lena 



INDEX I73 

Music, 96f ., no 
Mystics, German, 5 

NATURE, love of, 136 

Newspapers, 139 

Nightingale, 124 

Nimrod, 32 

Nobility, Open Letter to the Christian, 17G. 

Nuns, 21, 90 

Nuremberg, 125, 1291". 

OFFICE, difference of, .19; highest in Church, 89; of 

priest, i9f. ; of pastor, 117 
Office-holder, 20 
Ordination, 31 

PANTOMIME, 134 

Papacy, 32, 52, 114 

Papists, 3, 69, 124, 127 

Parable, on little Hans, 99 

Pardon-preachers, iof. 

Parents, 106, 116 

Pastor, The Right of a Congregation to Call its own, 87ff. ; 

old Hans Luther's, 121 
Paul, St., 6, 19, 21, 28, 33, 36, 39, 41, 46, 64, 89, 97, 99, 

i04f ., ; Epistles of, 62f . ; legends of, 95 
Paul III, 140 
Peace, 6, n, 75 
Peasants, 118; Against the Robbing and Murdering 

Hordes of the, in; Revolt of the, 76, 11 if* 
Penance, 8, 31 

Peter, St., 17, 19, 2if., 25, 43, 64; First Epistle of, 62L 
Pharaoh, 129 

Philip, of Hesse, see Hesse; Magisiter, see Melanchthon 
Pilate, 26, 64 
Pilgrimages, 37, 104 
Politics, 18, 147 



174 INDEX 

Pomraer, Dr., see Bugenhagen 

Poor, the, 28 

Pope, 2f., 9ff ., 18, 2iff., 37, 52, 55, 105, 148; infallibility 

of the, 22; supremacy of the, 31; tyranny of 

the, 117; worldliness of the, 25 
Pot-boys, 21 

Powers that Be, The, 83**. 
Prayer, 4, 13, 44, 92f., H9f., 129, 144, 148L ; the Lord's, 

13ft., 114ft. 
Preachers, 88f. 

Preface to the Small Catechism, ii4ff. 
Prefaces, Two Modest, iff. 
Priests, all Christians are, i9f., 43L 
Primer, Marshall's Goodly, 114 

Prince, Machiavelli's, 86; a wise, a rare bird, 85 
Professor, 8 
Prologue, to the German New Testament, 59ff. ; to the 

Psalter, 66ft. 
Prophet, 17 
Protection, 75 
Protestant, 8, 17 
Proverbs, 132 
Psalms, 92, 94, 120, 144L 
Psalter, 66ft., 118, 120, 132 
Publishers, 1 

RADICALS, the Wittenberg, in 

Recant, 38, 51, 56 

Red Sea, 140 

Reform, of the Christian Estate, 17; Proposals for, 27ft. 

Reformation, beginning of the Protestant, 8 

Regeneration, 36 

Reinecke, 118 

Relics, 139ft. 

Repentance, 8, 36 

Revolt, the Peasants', j6> 11 if. 

Revolution, the Wittenberg, 78 



INDEX I75 

Responsories, 94 

Rhetoric, no 

Rhine, Latest News from the, i39ff. 

Righteousness, Christ's, 5f., 62; the Christian's, 4-of., 47 

Romanists, 18, 561". 

Romans, Epistle to the, 62L 

Rome, 17, 22f., 26f., 39, 105, 141 

Rose, of Christ, 7; white, 130 

Ruhl, John, 112L 

Rulers, 85 ; the Christian, 86 

Saale, the river, 144 

Sacrament, see Lord's Supper 

Sacraments, seven, 3 if. 

Sacrifice, 34 

Safe-conduct, 54, 57, 76 

Saints, 7; acts of, 67; book of, 66; days of, 94; imi- 
tation of, 68; legends of, 67, 90; mad, 72; 
sayings of, 6j ; a sorry, 7 

Salvation, 36, 62 

Salzburg, 51 

Sanhedrin, 66 

Sarah, 23 

Satan, 55, 62, 73, 78f., 116, 125, 129 

Satire, 139 

Saul, 3 

Saxony, 8, 139 

Schmalkald Articles, 114 

Schools, Christian, for Boys and Girls, i03ff. 

Sciences, 105 

Scribblers, 71 

Scripture, interpretation of, 18, 22f., 34; proofs, 55; 
study of, iff. 

Seal ring, 129 

Secretaries, papal, 27 

See, Roman, 38; of Mayence, 139 

Sermons, A Week of Wonderful, 78ff. 



176 INDEX 

Servant, the Christian a .dutiful, 39, 45ff. 

Service, the mediaeval, 87; The New Order of, 9off. 

Sieberger, Wolf, 98, 100, 136, 138, 144 

Sign, sacramental, 3 5ff- 

Silk, 29, 107 

Sin, 6, i3ff., 36f., 4if., 6if., 119 

Sinners, 129 

Sinai, Mt., 140 

Sodalities, 104 

Soest, 146 

Sophists, 2, 124 

Soul, 21, 4of., 87, 149 

Spalatin, George, 54, 124 

Spenlein, George, 5 

Spice-traffic, 29 

Spiritual estate, the, i9fL 

Sponsor, 56, 116 

Squire George, 54 

St. Bartholomew's Day, 139 

St. Martin's church, 139 

St. Peter's at Rome, 10, 141 

State, 83f. 

Statius, 150 

Staupitz, John, 51 

Superspiritual, 97 

Swiss students, 59 

Sword, 20, 83f. 

Sycophants, 3 if. 

Sylvester, 31 

TABLE companions, 122, 143 

Table Talk, 122, 125 

Teachers, 9, 88, 105 

Teeth, Luther's answer without, 55 

Temporal estate, i9ff. 

Temptation, 15 

Tenor voice, Luther's, 96, 102 



INDEX 177 

Testament, New, 43, 59ft., 69!?., 93 ; Old, 42, 60, 66, 92f. 

Testaments, German, burned, 84 

Tetzel, John, 8 

Thebais, 150 

Theologians, 2; Luther, the, 17, 31 

Theses, The XCV, 8fL, 139 

Thur, John, 112 

Thuringia, 5 

Torgau, 125 

Town-clerk, 130, 148 

Town-council, see City-council 

Trade, 108 

Trading-company, 29 

Translating, On the Art of, 69*?. 

Transubstantiation, 34 

Treasure of the Church, the, 10 

Trent, Council of, 148 

Tribulation, i2f. 

Trout, 146 

Turk, 105, 129 

Tyndale, William, 60 

Tyranny, 17, 31, 37 

UNIVERSITY, 8,53; students, 51,99 

VATICAN Council, 22 

Veit, see Dietrich 

Velvet, 29 

Venice, m 

Vergil, 149 

Vermin, the Roman, 17, 27, 104 

Vespers, 93f. 

Vicar of Christ, 25f. 

Vigils, 104 

Visitation, Saxon, 114 

Vocational training, 103 

Vows, 37f. ; see Monastic Vows 

Vulgate, 8, 14, 59 



178 INDEX 

WALLS, the three, of the Romanists, i8ff. 

Walther, John, 96 

War, 86 

Wartburg, 54, 59, 122 

Wartrumpet, a blast on the, 18 

Wedding Feast, Invitation to a, 11 if. 

Wedding gift, 113 

Westphalia, 146 

Wilderness, Letters from the, i22ff. 

Will, Luther's second, 146 

Wines, 107 

Wittenberg, 5, 53, 56, 59, 74f., 96, 119, i2iff., 143^- 

Wolf, see Sieberger 

Women, faults of, in 

Woodcuts, 60 

Wool, 29 

Word of God, 4iff., 85; as against human force, 78f. ; 
kept silent, 10, 90; like a shower, 105; must 
be preached, 9iff. ; where it is there is God's 
house, 87 

Works, good, 34ft., 45ft., 62, 90; of Luther, iff., 31, 39 

Worms, 73f., 79 ; Luther at, 54ff. 

YEAR, a golden, 105 
Youth, 97, 103 ff. 

ZULSDORF, 144 
Zwingli, 147 



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